Naruto: His Other Self
by MickeyMTE
Summary: AU: Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, the son of Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze. His parents alive and well, he was expected to be a prince among ninja. Unfortunately, things aren't always as one wishes. Although his heritage called for excellence, he was simply not; an average sixteen year old boy with a mysterious yet helpful voice in head, Naruto struggles through life as a ninja.
1. Prologue

The Kyuubi attack.

An event of immense catastrophe, where many ninja and civilians lost their lives, racking up to perhaps the hundreds. The beast's mighty tails and roars were enough to change the very structure of Konoha and its future.

Indeed, it was a night _no one_ would forget.

Those of the Sarutobi clan mourned for the loss of their beloved Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi; the astute and brave man who had sacrificed himself to seal the legendary fox.

Inside what, one may ask?

Why, amongst the commoners, it was known to be sealed in the great daughter of the Yondaime Hokage, Narumi Uzumaki-Namikaze!

_"To have the daughter of the Hokage carry such a beast...what a curse!"_

...is what they muttered.

Of course, that wasn't the whole truth.

_Not even close._

What truly happened that night was only known to a select few. Including the fact that Narumi had only received half the Nine Tails, with the other half going to her near dead mother, Kushina Uzumaki.

How did it end up that way though? How could such a powerful ninja — not to mention the wife of the Hokage — be on the verge of death?

It all started with a single masked man breaching the Anbu protected barrier, and taking the first son of the Yondaime, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. After a battle of wits and trickery, the Yondaime had managed to fend away the ninja and teleport away with his twin children.

Yes, _twin children_. Kushina had, in fact, bore fraternal children that day.

It was at that moment of birth a ripple effect occurred; an effect that even those up above took note of.

Nevertheless, once the Hokage placed his children in one of his safe houses, he teleported to his wife just in time to save her from being killed by the recently extracted Kyuubi. After reuniting the mother with her children, the father went out to protect his village.

As his infamous name described, the Yondaime arrived in the nick of time, having teleported the Tailed Beast Bomb away, right before it could destroy the Hokage Rock.

And here came the greatest result of the aforementioned ripple effect.

The Yondaime was _successful_ in contacting the Sandaime. For some reason, the masked man had been late (far too late for Minato's liking when he reflected back on that day).

Although the unknown Sharingan user still engaged with the Fourth in a struggle for power (which the masked man ultimately lost), the damage had already been done. The Sandaime had made up his mind; to activate the Reaper Death Seal and seal the Kyuubi for the good of the village. With the help of Kushina's infamous Adamantine Sealing Chains, the Professor was able to successfully place the Yang half of the Tailed Beast in the female infant, with the Yin in the red-haired Uzumaki to prolong her life.

And in the end, both she, the Yondaime, and their children were saved from the brink of death.

That was all sixteen years ago.

However, even those who claim to know the "truth" of that night...

...were in fact very far from it.

* * *

"Alright, we've _finally_ graduated!"

Narumi had always been an energetic child, but today, she was beyond her usual game. Her bright yellow hair — a trait she inherited from her father — was split into two tails and bounced behind her gently. The sixteen year old off-spring of the Yellow Flash and Red Death was no doubt a star, both in academics and looks. It wasn't her body shape that stood out— or, it did, but just not as much as some of the other females in the class.

Still, she wore a short-sleeved, tan kimono blouse with a dark embroidered border, held closed with a black obi, and a dark short skirt with stockings that stopped at her thighs. Now though, she had the addition of the village's forehead protector, combined with an air of confidence that quite literally magnetized everyone, and reminding the older ninja of her mother.

Indeed, trickling out from the door was the rest of the class, most with satisfied or relieved looks. The gentle cool wind brisked against them, and the Academy playground that they had oh-so been acquainted with would finally disappear from their general sights. Even though the students could technically leave school grounds, most decided to stay as to discuss the exam and their future plans.

Speedily catching up to the blonde were Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka, each close friends of Narumi. Although their friendship had been quite artificial at first due to the two girls' obsession with a certain Uchiha, it slowly turned into something more as the Academy went on.

"Slow down, Narumi-chan!" Sakura's sharp tone caused the blond to freeze, and sheepishly look back, "I get that you're excited, but we still have a few days until we get assigned into teams."

"Yeah, yeah." the blonde waved off, before looking over her friend, particularly at her forehead, which held the Leaf headband. Sakura had shoulder-length pink hair, and her red top was accompanied by black gloves, knee-high boots, and black shorts underneath a short grey apron skirt. All in all, it suited her. "The headband looks great on you, Sakura-chan!"

The pinkette blushed at the compliment. "You think?"

"Pfft! Not as if Sasuke-kun will notice you that way!" the other blond of the group, Ino, addressed this competitively. In response, Sakura glared at her, and two entered a short glaring contest. Of course, Narumi came in between them and sighed.

"Ladies, ladies. Enough with the Uchiha wank."

The two sent out one last glare, before humphing away. Narumi sighed again, and looked toward the Yamanaka. She was probably more attractive than Sakura, and as a kunoichi, that was moderately useful. The fair-skinned sixteen year old wore a seductive purple outfit consisting of a high-collared blouse and matching apron skirt, while also exposing her midriff and having mesh armour on her thighs, elbows and knees. Her headband was worn as a belt, and Narumi had no idea how Ino did that based on how little time she even had the damn thing.

As they chattered away, two faraway figures with unusual blank white pupils watched with mild amusement, as if judging the crowd of students below them. The taller, more bustier one smirked as she leaned against the isolated Academy tree, donning an unzipped lavender and cream hooded-jacket, revealing her brown mesh armour. She had navy blue pants, black low-heeled sandals, and hair reaching to her lower back, with the framing strands growing to shoulder-length.

"We probably could've graduated three years earlier if it weren't for that dumb blond."

"Agreed, Onee-sama. "

The other female, sitting on the Academy's well-known swing, spoke with a prideful tone. Even with that superiority, there was a hint of longing in it, as if to want approval of some sort from the Hyuga known as Hinata. Hanabi's own face was similar to her sister's, though quite clearly one head shorter. Another key difference (besides her thinner body shape) was her shorter hair, framing her face in an asymmetrical bob style with the front bangs reaching below her chin. She was garbed in a sleeveless, blue v-neck shirt with mesh armour underneath, along with a tan vest jacket over it.

One would call call her a cute little clone of Hinata. She was, afterall, one year younger than her; a prodigy at the ripe age of fifteen that would also be graduating with her sister.

She wasn't the only prodigy graduating earlier, however. There was another; coincidentally from their rival clan, the Uchiha, and her name was Satsuki. The female had just exited the Academy doors and began her journey home, contrasting the majority of the other students. Satsuki had fair-skin with long black hair that went down to her mid-back and onyx eyes which were inherited from her father, Fugaku Uchiha.

She was dressed in a white shirt that had red borders and cuffs, and chose to compliment that with white shorts that reached her mid-thigh. To represent her clan, she had an unzipped long sleeveless black vest, with the Uchiha clan symbol on the front left side and back. For some diversity, her midsection was wrapped in a blue cloth, and instead of typical sandals, put on thigh-high ninja boots.

And of course, just recently, put on the the standard Konoha forehead protector, which was slightly covered by her dark bangs.

As she walked past the crowd, her presence was noted by Narumi, but not acted upon; as if there was some sort of barrier preventing her from calling out to the Uchiha. Not a physical one, but emotional.

The only one who noticed said reluctance was Shikamaru Nara, who had been behind Satsuki due to his coincidental intent to also go home. Sighing, he looked to his right, his best friend Chouji casually eating a bag of chips. Unlike the females in their grade, the two were not model-level lookers on any end, nor did they have any sort of relationship issues.

The Nara was whipped in a short-sleeved grey jacket with green-edged sleeves and the rudimentary Nara clan symbol on the back, under which was a green-lined mesh armour T-shirt. He also wore brown pants, a pair of his clan's traditional silver hoop earrings, and his brand new blue forehead protector around his left arm.

Chouji sported a red suit with plated armour on his torso, arms, and upper legs, having the same kanji for "food" on the front. With the standard red forehead protector and hoop earrings, he wouldn't be that bad looks-wise, if it weren't for his large body mass. And the chips he was munching on weren't helping with that either. The excess weight played in-hand with his ninja abilities, hence it wasn't anything he was too concerned about. Most of the time, anyway.

"Ya know, I sometimes think women have it easy, with their good looks and all. Then I remember how troublesome their drama is."

"Mhm, mhm." Chouji nodded, mindlessly agreeing with his friend whilst crunching on his junk food. He put his hand down to reach another one, before realizing another person had already delved their hands into it. Looking to his left, Chouij found the overly confident Kiba eating his chips. If it were a stranger, Chouji would've immediately knocked them out, but knowing it was Kiba, he allowed it.

"Man, oh man, we're finally Genin!" eating the crisps, he continued. "Aren't you guys excited!?"

"Just not as much as you." Shikamaru replied while yawning. At least, before he suddenly jolted, as he felt something rub against his leg. Dragging his vision down, he saw a large, white dog, or Akamaru as he knew it. It was Kiba's dog, and someone Kiba didn't leave with. Ever.

"Look, even Akamaru is excited."

A bark came from the dog in response to his owner's declaration, and the two seemingly grinned at one another. Or stuck his tongue out, in Akamaru's case. However, the wolf-like creature abruptly stopped his happy behaviour to look at a single figure who had just passed them.

Sasuke Uchiha.

Figured in a black one-piece that resembled a short-sleeved shirt with a high collar, he more notably had many small belts adorning his left arm and similar bands around both legs. His Konoha headband was firmly on his forehead, yet for some odd reason, Akamaru would always be somewhat wary around him. Not aggressive, but definitely on-guard.

It was the same way with Shino Aburame, the whole guarded behaviour. Luckily, that Genin had already long left the Academy parameters. Nonetheless, his long green coat, hood, and black sunglasses (not even mentioning the satchel on his back) obscured his face to the point where he was outright considered both the most mysterious and creepy student of their grade and the next.

"How 'bout we go for some barbecue, big guy?" Kiba popped the question, to which Chouji nodded vigorously to. Shikamaru sighed, indicating that he would join in. With a glint in his eyes, the Inuzuka added, "We can pick some girls up along the way, hehe~!"

Chouji and Shikamaru exchanged glanced, before groaning. Here came another one of Kiba's attempts to flirt with literally any of the females in their class. Although it'd be somewhat effective against the civilian girls, most of the popular and notable women rejected his advances.

"If you're going after Hinata-san, not a chance." Chouji deadpanned, with Shikamaru curtly adding. "Or literally any of the clan girls."

Kiba moaned, though surprisingly not by the fact that he couldn't approach those particular two. "Oh, come on! Even I know when a girl isn't interested."

"Highly debatable."

"Hey!"

The three continued bickering, making their way out of the school grounds and into the Leaf pathways, with absolutely none of the aforementioned Genin noticing the Academy doors opening once again.

Coming out last (and incredibly late), walking with absolutely no swagger and complete meekness, was the prodigal son of the Yondaime, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. With thick black glasses laying on his nose, along with a black tracksuit that had a red fire symbol on the left breast, and dark pink stripes along the sides of his black pants, the blue-eyed sixteen year old smiled triumphantly.

_'I did it!'_

Pumping a silent fist, he continued forth with a flustered look on him, the source of it being the leaf symbolised headband on his forehead. Unlike the others, graduating was an enormous deal to Naruto.

To explain, Naruto was average beyond average. He went through curriculum of the Academy while struggling here and there, like most civilians would have, and trotted with only one affinity, wind. His aptness in it wasn't particularly impressive either, especially when compared to Narumi. In nearly all aspects, he was unlike most of the other clan students, who not only had an incredible connection to one or two elements, but were gifted with Yin or Yang Jutsu as well.

His mediocrity was to the extent that some wondered whether he was actually an adopted child of the Hokage, since he clearly didn't inherit _any_ of his parent's talent. He wasn't shunned for it, but he wasn't exactly praised either. He was always considered the other child, the second, even though ironically enough he was the elder one.

Still, it wasn't as if he hated them, or vice-versa. No, it was better this way. Naruto was, after all, a very shy teenager, always quiet and timid. He preferred being in the background rather than the spotlight. It was the exact opposite of his sister, and more especially, Hinata.

Indeed, unlike Narumi, Hinata was the type to flirt with every single guy in the class. Of course, it didn't work on some, such as Shino or Sasuke. Fortunately, Naruto had never been on the end of her flirtation due to his lack of presence. To be frank, it was really just a way for her to up Narumi (who was far too bashful to do such things) and increase her overall influence.

Not to mention it was another way to compete over the "Rookie of the Year" and "Kunoichi of the Year" titles. The runner-ups were (obviously) Sasuke, Narumi, and Hinata. In Naruto's humble opinion, he thought Sasuke was going to win, simply because he had beaten Narumi more times than not. Not that she had never beaten him, mind you. In fact, she was first (and only) one in the Academy who had beat him in a full-on spar. If he recalled correctly, their score was 55-1-30; meaning, 55 wins for Sasuke, one interrupted, and 30 wins for Narumi.

Other than that, Sasuke had never lost, whereas Narumi struggled to defeat Hinata, Satsuki, and some of the other clan children. Even so, those kids were on an entirely other level, far beyond his own comprehension. Thankfully, Naruto had never fought them all that much, preferring to spar with the civilians instead. The one time he did fight a notable individual, it was Shikamaru, who gave up in the middle of it because it was getting too hot and he wanted to be in the shade.

Not that it really mattered to the blond. He always had someone to cope about his own insecurities and lack of talent.

'_Aibou?'_

He called out the name in a low yet joyful tone, and as he expected, an answer was formed from inside his head.

**_'What's wrong, Naruto?'_**

Aibou...that was what he called him. His other self. His partner.

Aibou had always been with Naruto for as long as the blond could remember. At first, he considered him an imaginary friend, and even his parents did too. He was a child, after all. It was natural that children had those sort of things. It wasn't until Naruto entered the Academy when he realized how abnormal it was; no one else was talking to their imaginary friend. Not anymore. And Naruto had been too shy to pose the question to his sensei's or parents.

When the medical portion of the Academy curriculum came, he had wondered whether he actually had Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Aibou was kind, cool, calm, and an overall collected person. He had always patiently helped Naruto in coping with his shyness, and in all the years Naruto had known him, he had never lost his temper either. However, he was sometimes overly quiet and dull, and similar to Naruto, wasn't too experienced in social interaction.

If one were to describe him exactly, he was...a really nice edgelord.

Naruto had never actually seen him physically — due to, ya know, being in his head and all — but the blond always did know that he was watching in some way. And with that confidence (combined with a few incidents), Naruto knew he wasn't another aspect of himself. He was an entirely different entity, which, in fact, Aibou confirmed with his very own words. He was indeed a different person from Naruto, and had somehow wound up inside him.

To back it up, Aibou claimed to have a memory outside of Konoha; toads, snakes, slugs, hawks, and creatures of all kinds of manner surrounding him. Aibou had an inkling that they were helping him building something. There was another memory too, a super blurry one where an old man (maybe women, he really couldn't tell) was talking to him about something super important.

Or at least that was the feeling Aibou got in the shaky memory.

Nonetheless, the closest thing Naruto could compare him to was like...a Tailed Beast or something. In fact, there was one instance in which he actually took over his body entirely. He was unconscious during the whole thing and it was an emotionally taxing time for him, sure, but the point was that Aibou meant no ill-intent. He would do his best to support him, a notion Naruto believed wholeheartedly.

'_Ah, it's nothing. I'm just really excited!' _after a couple seconds of hesitance, the host finally replied,

The man chuckled, his deep yet kind voice echoing through his head. **'****_That's natural. You are equally nervous, no?'_**

_'Yeah! But I won't mess up!'_

Undeniably, the three part exam was difficult: there was the written portion, the practical portion, and the application. Each section had its own day dedicated to it.

The written portion was the first and obviously in the form of an exam, containing material from the entire Academy curriculum. He wasn't all that good at academics, and today, Iruka had revealed he had gotten a seventy-two. At least it was better than Shikamaru, who never tried and pretty much gave himself a passing grade. Everybody knew he could do better, but the Nara just never tried.

The second day was the practical portion, which was further split into two parts; Ninjutsu and weapon usage. Although the test was different for each person, in Naruto's case, he had to do the Clone Jutsu along with shuriken throwing. From what he heard from Narumi (in her overly loud conversations), she had to do a Transformation Jutsu plus kunai throwing.

Finally, there was the application portion, where they had to spar against their Chunin teachers for a 5 minutes. Fortunately, Naruto was able to do so through his use of the Substitution Jutsu and other defensive measures. He could tell Iruka-sensei was being lenient with him though. The man had an odd soft spot for him.

However, Naruto was completely overshadowed by the other students: Narumi, Sasuke, Hinata, Kiba, Satsuki, and Hanabi all defeated their Chunin instructors outright. Apparently, it wasn't even close. That was to be expected, of course. They were all the products of Konoha's greatest clans.

Naruto was sure Shino could've done so too, but chose not to due to his reserved nature. Aibou was apparently weary Shino, telling him he was someone the blond should not make an enemy out of. It was something Naruto kept close to heart, since Aibou did not even remotely consider someone like Sasuke as a threat. And Naruto personally thought he was the strongest of their grade. Maybe he was wrong?

For now though, Naruto was heading home.

* * *

"So Naru-chan, how's it feel to finally be Genin!?"

That gushed tone of voice emerged from a red-head wearing a sleeveless blouse under a long, green loose-fitting dress with a wristband on the left wrist. This was Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze, mother of the fraternal twins.

Naruto had just entered the kitchen, and saw their mother making dinner. At her full height, she stood at around 5'4, exactly 4 inches less than Naruto. He smiled at her nervously, but before he could respond, a new voice from the living table entered the field.

"You must be incredibly excited."

The tone was kind and gentle, and Naruto registered it to be his father: Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage. Most of the time he was at the office working, but on certain occasions, he would be at home, wearing casual clothing whilst drinking coffee and reading a book, such as now. Their house was quite big, with two floors and all, yet his parents opted to have the living room and kitchen in the same area for more ease.

"A-ah. Yes, I'm really excited..." he mumbled out, scratching his cheek with his finger. Looking to the side, he saw a patch of yellow beside his father's green chair, and smiled gently. His father pushed his chair up into the table, giving Naruto the space to confront the tiny creature known as Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze.

Unlike Minato, Naruto, and Narumi, Mito was not a blond, but instead, a red-head similar to Kushina. Admittedly, Naruto never really talked to Narumi. Though they were raised together, their personalities clashed too much for them to have a lot of chemistry. However, with Mito, due to Narumi being constantly busy with her friends, Naruto always had the time to play with her, something Kushina appreciated immensely.

And in front of her, he could act at least moderately confident.

"Hey there, Mito-chan." Naruto greeted softly, causing the young girl to turn her head. Her eyes became filled with joyful recognition as she saw him, and she beckoned her older brother toward herself.

"Look, look, Onii-sama!" she held out a piece of paper while Naruto kneeled down to her to see it, "I made a seal! And I didn't need Tou-chan's help!"

Squinting, he looked over the black ink plastered on the paper. Minato took a sip of his coffee as to hide the proud smile on his face. Knowing her brother was about to praise her, the tiny three foot girl stood up with a toothy grin. Patting her head, Naruto replied honestly.

"To be honest, Mito-chan...you're incredible."

One might think Naruto said that because it was his responsibility as an older brother, but that wasn't true; he really did mean every word. Mito was only four years old, but she was able to write Fuinjutsu on a level beyond that of a typical Chunin. The Yondaime had been encouraging the practice of Fuinjutsu for the past sixteen years, yet this little girl was better than half of the ninja in his force!

Even in the Academy, the students were taught basic Fuinjutsu, and (besides Narumi) Naruto was sure that Mito was better than every single student. Their mother had remarked that she had never met someone so adapt at Fuinjutsu in her life. And she had been raised in a village of Fuinjutsu users!

As for Naruto? Well...as you would expect from his previous records, he was average at it. Nothing special. Their parents had hoped his talent would bloom in the form of Fuinjutsu, but once again, he let them down.

Pushing those thoughts away, Naruto smiled down at his younger sister. He had no doubt she would surpass both their father and even Narumi. He could feel it.

* * *

"I'm home!"

An excited voice echoed throughout the house, and the two heads of the house let a smile embrace their face as they heard running footsteps. Minato was still in his usual spot, but Kushina had moved to one of the armchair sofas. Narumi swung herself into the room and launched onto her mother, hugging her as she squealed.

"I finally became a Genin, Okaa-chan! Now I can become Hokage like you wanted!"

Patting her head, Kushina widened her smile, though still commented jokingly. "Mi-chan, please act like your age. You're sixteen."

"Ma~!"

Rubbing her cheek against her mother's, the two red-heads lightly laughed, with the only male in the room snickering under his breath. The two playfully glared at the Hokage, to which he shrugged off with a smile. Getting off her mother, Narumi let out a laugh before blinking and asking a question.

"By the way, where's Mito-chan? I wanted to show off my headband to her!"

"Ah, she's in her room with Naru-chan." Kushina stretched back into her sofa, going into another one of her so-called well deserved naps. Who could blame her, parenting was hard.

"Again..."

Narumi muttered those words not hatefully, but definitely with some ounce of jealousy. With how busy she was with her friends (combined with training), she never really got to play with Mito all that much. Sometimes, she thought she was a bad sister when comparing herself to Naruto.

Naruto...she never thought badly of her brother. When they were kids, there was a time when she always wanted to up him. Sibling rivalry and all. He, of course, never recuperated those actions, and as a result, she dropped the whole act. Plus, there was no point in doing anything like that either. It was fairly obvious to nearly everyone that she was better of the two in — no offence — quite literally _everything_.

Still, it was her responsibility as the stronger sibling to protect the family. And become Hokage while she was at it. She was going to surpass her mother as a kunoichi, and become a ninja independent from her father. Being the daughter of such powerful figures, she had always been called the "Honourable Daughter". It was frankly annoying, and she wanted it to stop as soon as possible.

She wondered why Naruto never found it bothersome, but it was probably because nobody talked to him. She felt bad saying it, yet it was true. She tried helping him here and there. However, he was way too shy to talk to any of her friends.

Not to mention in her case, there was the unease some of the villagers had with her. It was very slight, but it was there. Narumi wasn't a total idiot. She knew one of the reasons why their father pushed the Academy graduation age was due to her inability to control the Kyuubi. There was_ "The Incident"_, where she completely lost control at the fifth tail.

Consequently, she severely scarred her Godfather, Jiraiya of the Sannin; he had been taken to the hospital and remained there for two weeks. Her mother, Kushina, went out of retirement to go on a month long mission to drag back Tsunade of the Sannin and heal him, scars and all. Her mot

After all that, it took six whole months before she could will herself to train again. In that time, Sasuke had gotten far ahead of her, explaining their large gap in base power.

Anyways, that all happened four years ago.

Her parents chose to stop the Jinchuriki training all together, deciding it wouldn't be wise for a Genin with such a powerful creature inside to roam around, lest she hurt her allies (much less her enemies). That resulted in the push for Academy graduation. Narumi couldn't recall a time where she had been more miserable in her life. Luckily, Ino and Sakura helped her pull through. It was why they were such great friends. The two looked past her royalty and curse. They comforted her even when some said she was acting stuck-up.

Unlike a certain Hyuga pair...

Sighing, she twirled to head to the exit and into the hall. She trampled up the stairs quickly; her sister's room was at the end of the hall, and she barged through the door.

"Hey, Mito-chan!"

Said girl jolted, and slowly turned her head. She was sitting in a tiny stool, with Naruto across from her, though the two were separated by a small table. It looked like they were doing a tea party. And she just ruined it. Great.

"Ah, Mi-mi!"

That was Narumi's nickname, and one Narumi simply couldn't get out her sister's head. It was Narumi, for crying out loud! It meant "Roaring of the Sea", and it was an awesome name for a ninja! Allowing those mildly aggressive thoughts to dissipate, Narumi smiled and pointed to her headband.

"Ya see this? I've finally become a Genin!"

The youngest sister tilted her head in confusion, before grinning. "Oh, like Onii-sama?"

_Onii-sama_...another thing to be jealous about. How come she was called "Mi-mi", while Naruto was given a super formal title like "Onii-sama"? It was unfair! Narumi's gaze went to the only male in the room. Naruto faltered under her glare-like stare. Sighing, she dropped her head down, and nodded. "Yeah, kinda like Naruto's..."

"You wanna join us in our tea party!" Mito suddenly declared, raising her tea cup towards her. Narumi blinked, before crouching down and allowing a toothy grin on her face.

"Yeah! That'd be awesome!"

Naruto watched the two interact with gentle eyes. He could feel the man in his head smile too. These were no doubt precious times.

* * *

_**Japanese Terms**_

**_Kyuubi = Nine Tailed Fox_**

**_Konoha = village hidden in the leaves_**

**_Yondaime = Fourth_**

_**chan = **_**_used to refer to children and female family members, close friends_**

_**kun = **_**_used to address men who are younger or the same age as the speaker._**

_**Onee-sama = **_**_refers to a highly respected older sister or female_**

_**Onii-sama = refers to a highly respected older brother or male**_

**_Okaa-chan = Casual. Close to "mommy."_**

_**Tou-chan = Children and lower class family use it. Close to "daddy."**_

* * *

**A/N:**

**LINK TO FANART IN PROFILE**

**Hello, hello! My first fanfic ever! I put a lot of effort into it, so hope you enjoyed! Updates are going to be monthly or bi-weekly, I haven't decided yet. More than likely it'll be the former tho.**

**I'm new to the whole fanfic writing thing, and tried my best to avoid cliches and tropes through "Naruto Fanfiction Cliches" by solartai and the NarutoFanfiction Subreddit. They really helped subvert some stuff I was planning tbh. I've been reading Naruto fanfics for a couple months now, so I know the basics at the very least. Not saying I'm an expert in Fanfic writing on any regard. I'm sure I made plenty of newbie mistakes in this chapter lol**

**I'll make this clear though: this is not a neglect fic.**

**Minato and Kushina aren't douches and would certainly _not_ leave Naruto behind just because they had another child. At best, because this child had the Nine Tails, they would place a bit more attention in _training_.**

**That wouldn't mean they'd forget Naruto's entire existence, nor is there any logical reason for Naruto to feel jealous, since...ya know..._said child has a planet destroying demon inside that could be let loose if the child loses their temper. _Any _reasonable_ person would feel a tinge of fear and concern for something like that.**

**Anyway, moving on, most descriptions were from the Naruwiki, since I didn't feel like writing each and every person's clothing. The point was that they were in their Part II clothing (Sasuke was based on his Chunin Exam clothing, since I really like that outfit). Hanabi is based on her Part II, while Satsuki is based on a Narufanon character that I'll post in my profile once again.**

**Naruto has Boruto's outfit, since I find it neat (hair is the same as canon Naruto since Boruto's hair is not my thing lol). Also glasses because they're cute uwu**

**Their home is also based on the Uzumaki Residence in Boruto. I didn't want to do the trope where the Namikaze estate is "twice the size of the Earth". ****Plus, it makes logical sense for it to be big, but not _too_ big. I imagine Minato and Kushina being modest people. Furthermore, it's stated in the pedia how Naruto and Minato were the only Hokage's to not move into the Hokage Estate, so ye. The Boruto house fits perfectly.**

**Obviously there are historical changes in this story. That's why I state it's an AU in the summary.**

**Hanabi is only 1 year younger than Hinata (rather than 4), and same with Satsuki to Sasuke. ****The Academy is also pushed 4 years back; meaning, everyone is 16, except for the aforementioned girls, who are 15. These extra years give them more backstory stuff, not to mention is easier for me to write with (12-13 year olds acting mature is weird for me).**

**In terms of Naruto...he's going to remain the shy guy for a while. In his mind/conversations with Aibou, he's more normal and in-line with his canon self, since I don't think anyone stutters in their heads. I don't, at least. It's not a mask or something, he's genuinely bad at conversations.**

** As for Hinata's personality, well, I have plans for that which you'll see in the far future. As of now, she's similar to her "Road to Ninja" counterpart. For now tho (;**

**Aibou is going to be cool, I hope. Try not to think of him as an OC, even though he kinda is, and more of another personality of Naruto's (at least for now).**

**If it wasn't obvious this story was based on Yu-Gi-Oh, with the whole Yugi/Atem relationship instead being Naruto/Aibou. If you couldn't tell from the writing, he does have his own original backstory like Atem. For those wondering, it won't divert from the canon world or anything. It'll fit within the world of Naruto. It's one of the few things I actually have planned. I dropped a few vague hints in this chapter.**

**Speaking of, there's a lot of story elements in the Academy / past that I also hinted. It'll all be explained sooner or later. Just because Minato is Hokage doesn't mean everyone is at peace. There's _a lot _of plot stuff I hinted at, but did not explain thoroughly. Don't be worried tho, they will be explained in the form of a fleshed-out flashback. You can count me on that**

**Here's another important thing to address:**

**I have n****o real plan for any romance. **

**There might be crushes or something, but I probably won't delve any deeper than that. This is my _first_ fanfic, so I have no clue how to properly write that in. And in my short time as a Fanfic reader, I hardly encountered romance, and when I did, I disliked it heavily. I might change my mind in the middle of writing, but we'll see.**

**And no, no incest or anything of that sort. Narumi will have her own story stuff, and Minato won't be getting cucked. ****I think he's badass as hell. **

**Actually, my favourite character list from top to bottom goes: Kakashi, Gaara, Sasuke, Minato, Shikamaru, and _then_ Naruto. As much as I like Naruto, Kakashi is the real GOAT in the series.**

**FYI, there might be swearing, blood (not overly gorey, but it might need warning lol), and violent stuff which is why I made it M for mature.**

**Anyway, review and all that jazz. Ariguatou everyone!**


	2. Genin Test

_'Aibou...?'_

**_'Yes, Naruto?'_**

_'How do I get out of this situation...?'_

**_'Play it cool, my friend. Play it cool.'_**

_'Um. You and I both know I'm the opposite of that.'_

_**'Perhaps so, but there's no harm in trying.'**_

_'Except maybe harming my self-esteem...'_

Naruto inwardly sighed, though not allowing that to show on the outside. He had gotten used to conversing with Aibou without letting others know. In fact, if there was one thing he was good at, it was multi-tasking, and switching between talking to someone on the outside to someone in his head. Albeit with a _lot_ of stuttering.

"G-g-greetings. M-my name is N-Naruto U-Uzumaki-Namikaze..."

Three female stares were directed at him as he said that, and he couldn't help but instinctively look down. "I-I like to...um..."

"We're not gonna bite, ya know!" a tomboy voice exclaimed before he could finish. He snapped up to see the feral grin of Anko Mitarashi, his sensei and leader of Team 12. Not that her comment helped whatsoever. Besides her pupil-less light brown eyes, which constantly put Naruto off, she wore a dark-grey mesh body suit that covered her from her neck down to her thighs. No, it wasn't see-through lingerie like most people from afar assumed it was. If it were, well...she likely would be stripped of her career.

Anko was leaning against the teacher's desk, as she had taken the three away from their normal room and into here, the class next door. It was a generic, boring classroom, with an arrangement of desks identical to room 310.

"I can't believe this is happening..."

The mutter came from the youngest in the room, Satsuki Uchiha. She was sitting to his right, and Naruto could (fortunately and unfortunately) hear every single one of her comments. Not one of them were positive.

"Where is Onee-sama when you need her..."

That voice came from his left: Hanabi Hyuga. The number of times she had mentioned her sister was astronomical. And they had only been together for less than ten minutes!

Naruto, Satsuki, and Hanabi. Arguably the worst combination, in his humble opinion.

Did his father think he was good with younger girls simply because he played with Mito? Because that was simply not the case. At all.

'_An Uchiha prodigy, plus a Hyuga prodigy, minus the Hokage's weakest child...' _That was pretty much the headcount in Naruto's perspective. He was sure they saw it the same way too. '_Iruka-sensei...Otou-sama...why?'_

Naruto had a high opinion of Iruka, too. The man was fair and unbiased. He took his time in helping someone as average as Naruto, no matter what the problem was. And for the first time, the Chunin had done the opposite for him.

Aibou apparently disagreed, however.

_**'Perhaps this may end up being beneficial to you—'**_

_**'**__Don't even say that.'_

Clearing up whatever bile there was in his throat, Naruto drifted from his internal conversation and continued verbally talking. "I l-like to w-water plants and do house chores. I-I dislike...um...n-nothing really." For some reason, Anko grinned sadistically at that. Was she planning on changing that or something? "A-and my dream is to...um...become an Academy t-teacher someday."

That dream of his...it was everything he had. Well, besides recovering Aibou's memories that is.

Naruto knew he wasn't going to become something as great as a Hokage, nor did he have a passion for it, so he decided long ago to teach other people, like Iruka did with him. Perhaps he could pass on his legacy and help those similar to himself.

"Great, great!" Anko clapped her hands, and then held one out in Satsuki's direction. "Your turn!"

Standing up robustly, the young girl began almost systematically. "Satsuki Uchiha. I like training. I dislike weaklings." Naruto felt as if that remark was shot at him. "My dream is to surpass my brothers by becoming Hokage." Her voice had been dull the whole time, yet that particular statement was said with firm determination.

Speaking of brothers...

_'Itachi-san, huh...'_ Naruto had actually conversed with the elder Uchiha a few tines, back when they were children and weren't as busy. He was a nice fellow, especially compared to the other members of his family. To be fair though, it wasn't as if he talked to the other Uchiha all that often. And since Itachi now lived in the hospital, it wasn't as if he talked to him either.

_**'He was quite an individual.' **_Aibou suddenly said, to which Naruto could only agree with. _**'Very much a shame that he had contracted a terminal illness.'**_

_'Yeah. He's been in the hospital for over 4 years now.' _the blond frowned. From what his father said, Itachi was one of their greatest Genjutsu users, only second to Shisui, and the greatest Anbu Captain their village had ever known. The loss of Itachi was equally as much a hit for the Uchiha clan as it was for Konoha itself.

And apparently, Itachi's absence even caused a rift in his family too, particularly between Sasuke and Fugaku. Rumours claim that the two had a major falling out and fought one another. Of course, most of the populace dismissed it as nothing more than that; a rumour. Mainly because the family was still seen hanging out with one another.

In spite of that fact, Naruto realized there was something more to it when — during a family dinner with the Uchiha family — he vaguely heard his mother privately ask Mikoto about a fight, to which the mother of the Uchiha replied in a very low whisper.

He couldn't hear the contents of her response, but it was no doubt suspicious. There wasn't much he could do about it though. Family business was family business.

Plus, he had introductions to pay attention to.

"My name is Hanabi, and I'm of the Hyuga clan." Even if Naruto hadn't looked at her proud face, he would've been able to tell that there was a special kind of pride in the naming of her clan. "I enjoy hanging out with Onee-sama, and I hate those who go against what I stand. My dream is to become a ninja; great enough to bear the title of the Hyuga Princess."

'_I remember that.' _Naruto recalled, '_The title of Hyuga Princess...it was supposed to go to Hinata-san, but apparently she and her father had a falling out around 4 years ago.'_

So much family trouble these days...and what the hell was up with the fact that it all happened 4 years ago?

**_'Indeed.'_** the voice in his head responded, '_**From what we heard, it seemed that Hiashi was pushing Hinata far too much, and as a result, she left the clan.'**_

_'Right.' _Naruto internally face-palmed. He sometimes forgot that Aibou heard and sensed nearly everything he did. It was beyond useful; Aibou was _really _good at picking things up, even minor stuff. _'Hinata-san even lives in her own apartment. But I guess Hanabi-san still really looks up to her, seeing as though she's always by her side.'_

Aibou chuckled, before adding,**_ 'I agree. It is somewhat like you and Mito.'_**

_'I wouldn't say she's that clingy.'_

In her own unique way, Hanabi was overly protective of Hinata. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that when Hinata flirted with someone, Hanabi would follow it up with a belittling insult that would crush any hope in the male. It was terrible, yet very effective.

Aibou chuckled. _'__**Perhaps.'**_

Snapping back to the situation at hand, it looked like Anko had just finished her speech, as she had her hands behind her head, a casual gesture he saw quite a bit in Narumi. Nevertheless, the Jounin had said something about a very low chance of passing, and that so-and-so was the true graduation exam—

Wait, _what_?

"If you guys fail this, then...well..." the purple-haired woman winked, "...more than likely, you won't be taking it again."

"I see." was the response Satsuki gave. Her tone was calm, but even Naruto could tell she was somewhat intimidated by the prospect of failing, not even mentioning the fact that they'd never be able to take it again. Hanabi kept quiet, but with how hard she was gripping her crossed arms, it was obvious she was tense. Naruto, well...

He slowly raised his hand up, to which Anko nodded at. "Um. D-didn't we a-already do the G-Genin exam?"

Anko's eye twinkled, "Nope! That was to weed out the weakling. If you seriously had trouble passing that, then you're probably screwed. Standards are super high nowadays, ya know?"

As usual, a grin was plastered onto her face, as if the idea of them failing comforted her somehow. Was this really how a Jounin behaved? Or was it only her? Judging by his few interactions with Kakashi Hatake, his father's student, Naruto guessed it was a she thing only.

Looking at the tense faces of her students one by one, Anko proclaimed, "We'll meet at Training Ground 44! 2 p.m sharp!"

_**'Training Ground 44...' **_Aibou suddenly muttered, _**'Isn't that...'**_

_'Isn't that what?'_

_**'...the Forest of Death.'**_

* * *

Great. Just great!

His exam was going to take place at arguably the Leaf's most dangerous training ground. From the whispers Aibou heard, only Chunin or higher were allowed there. Genin, and unofficial ones at that, had no business there.

Yet, for some reason, their sensei insisted on that being their exam location.

Why? Why was his life so complicated!?

"Onii-sama...?"

A gentle voice broke him from his depressing thoughts, and looked down at Mito. Like most days, she was in his room, sitting on his lap as they sat on the edge of his bed. She wanted to know all about his teammates, and he had told her honestly. For reasons unknown to the blond, she had been dissatisfied when he had mentioned the gender of his team. He chalked it up to being a sister thing, and moved on.

"Ah, what's up? I was just thinking, is all." He smiled nervously to quell her worries. It didn't work, as she puffed her cheeks, and looked away cutely.

"Weren't you listening?"

Naruto put his hands together, and bowed his head down apologetically. "Sorry, sorry. Would you please forgive me, Mito-chan?" he lifted his head slightly, revealing puppy dog eyes. Mito blushed, and played with her hair.

"Well, I guess I can..."

Naruto brightened up, and grinned at his young sister, who pouted at falling for his trick again. It was a simple, really: pretend you were sorry, bow your head down, and look slightly up with pleading eyes. It was something that would likely only work on children such as her. Genius or not, she was still a kid on the inside.

"So what was it?" Naruto asked again. At the question, Mito began playing with her hair again, twirling it over and over. Naruto looked at her with a confused gaze; was it really that embarrassing?

"So...um..." she looked down shyly, "...who was Rookie of the Year?"

The young girl posed the question with an...expectant tone? Why? She _had_ been always curious about his time in the Academy. Unfortunately, his own life was dull, so he generally had to resort to stories about Narumi. No matter how interesting they were though, she had always been dissatisfied with them. Only when — say— he won a spar and he detailed it to her did she become overly happy. Still, she had asked him a question, and like always, he would answer honestly.

"Sasuke-san won." Just like he had predicted before, "And Narumi-chan was the Kunoichi of the Year. Why, what's wrong?"

Indeed, she had a disappointed expression on her face, and she turned away while muttering something incomprehensive. She was sitting on his lap, so it wasn't as if she could totally avoid him. Sweat-dropping, he carefully asked, "Uhm. What was that?"

The tiny red-head glanced at him, before turning back and puffing out her cheeks. "I said I wanted you to win, Onii-sama!"

"Eh?"

_**'Did your heart just skip a few beats?' **_quipped a certain voice in his head.

_'No.'_

Seriously though...did his four year old sister really have that much faith in him? He had never been as enthusiastic as Narumi in being a ninja, but still. Having somebody believe in you like that was...nice.

"Don't worry." Naruto gazed at her with a soft smile once again. "That was the academy. Now that I'm a ninja, I'll be the strongest there is!"

Naruto felt bad as her eyes sparkled at his declaration. Realistically, he wouldn't even make it past being a Tokubetsu-Jounin, but he had a job to do; to instil pride into his sister and be the greatest older brother he could possibly be.

Speaking of, where was his _other _younger sister?

"Hey, guys!"

The door burst open, and in came Narumi with a grin on her face, although her brows displayed some amounts of tiredness. Was it due to her team, or was it because of her usual antics? He could never tell with her.

"Mi-Mi!" Narumi's eye visibly twitched at the nickname, but Mito paid it no mind and proceeded to yell. "Onii-sama got into an all-girls team! Isn't that unfair!?"

Naruto blinked. '_Why was that the first thing she blurted out!?'_

**_'Aren't sisters supposed to overprotective?'_**

_'Where did you even get that from?' _Naruto asked in an exasperated yet truly curious tone.

_**'In one of those novels you read in class.' **_Naruto sweat-dropped at his response. Aibou really did pick up on the oddest of details; not that he could blame him. The only two things he _could_ do was watch Naruto, or view his memories. Fortunately, he was mature enough to not make fun of Naruto's more embarrassing moments. Usually, he only focused on the things Naruto missed out on.

"Oh, right. Hanabi and Satsuki...that figures..." Narumi's mutter snapped Naruto out of his stupor, and the only thing the male could do was chuckle awkwardly. Seriously, what was that even supposed to mean? He did recall that Narumi and Satsuki were good friends up until 3 years ago. He didn't know the details, but _something_ happened pertaining to a scroll, and that _something_ forced their father to intervene.

Whatever this _something_ was, it didn't matter too much, as she quickly moved onto her own matters. "Well, I got in a team with Sakura, and that bastard Sasuke!" There was a clear difference in tone between the two names; one of was joy, while the other was disappointment. Did she really expect to be paired with Ino and Sakura? He knew she was optimistic, but really?

"Like seriously, I would've even taken that lazy bum Shikamaru! Actually, scratch that, because we already have a lazy ass, which is Kakashi-sensei!" she groaned despairingly as she sat next to Naruto, making the bed crinkle. She placed her hands behind her head, closing her eyes and sighing tiredly. Naruto smiled nervously, and with great hesitation, awkwardly placed a hand on her shoulder. Narumi immediately opened her right eye, her expression confused.

"Don't worry, Narumi-chan. I'm sure you can handle it, like you always do."

She blinked at first, but then suddenly turned red. She wasn't blushing, only embarrassed. He could tell the difference through his many interactions with Mito. "I-I know! I got it sorted! I just wanted to vent, is all..." she muttered at the end while crossing her arms across her chest. Mito laughed at her older sister, pointing at her childishly, which was met by a playful glare by Narumi. Naruto snickered under his breath. Being an older brother was one of the few things he personally thought he was good at.

* * *

"So Naruto-kun, how do you feel about your team?"

Their father suddenly popped the question as they ate their late dinner. Their mother had always told them to never eat until everyone was here, which pretty much meant Minato. As a result, the Hokage tried his very best to come home on time, with mild success. The times he was late, however...well, let's just say Minato would be forced to sleep at the office.

Naruto unfortunately couldn't escape the question because first, they just began eating, so excuses were a no-go, and second, Minato was sitting at the head of the table. Meaning, he had clear vision of everyone, particularly Naruto, since he was directly diagonal to him, allowing for the two males to converse with one another quite easily. On the other hand, Mito was to Naruto's right, with Kushina and Narumi across from them (left and right respectively).

"I-I think it's fine."

Aibou obviously had to comment on that blatant lie._** 'I've heard you tell lies, Naruto, but this one definitely takes the cake.'**_

_'And probably ate it too.'_ Naruto continued, before shaking his head, '_Should I tell him that I hate it then? Because no matter how much I whine, I'm pretty sure the teams won't change.'_

**_'True that.'_**

"Ah, that's great!" Minato beamed at his eldest son, "I know it'll be difficult to get those girls to function with you as a team, but I'm sure you can do it! That's why I suggested you personally!"

_'So he seriously chose me as team leader because I'm a good big brother...?'_

**_'Well, more like to help you develop into a leader.'_**

_'...ah.'_

Since Naruto lacked talent in literally every area, his father probably wanted him to least be able to stand up for himself. At his current (socially anxious) form, he would be as good as dead in the ninja world, especially because Kushina and Minato had many enemies. No doubt he would be targeted.

**_'Minato is a great Hokage, you know.'_**

_'Definitely.'_

Before Naruto could properly thank his father for the opportunity, his sister decided to jump into the conversation, with a cheeky grin pasted on her face.

"I heard Ino-chan yelling at Shikamaru and Chouji while we were waiting for sensei in the classroom." she giggled as she chewed on her food, "Looks like she'll be leading the team."

"Those three..." Kushina sighed, "They've known each other for so long, but they act like children."

"Mm, but I believe that they have even more potential than the current Ino-Shika-Cho." Minato shot back. Indeed, although Inoichi, Shikaku, and Choza were great, they would need to be replaced at some point. To prepare for such a future, Minato had taken measures to repeat the success of the previous generation, perhaps even surpassing them, and had Asuma be their sensei. Not only was he strict and powerful, but he was a very capable sensei in general, more than likely the best in regards to teaching.

Knowing he wasn't needed in the conversation, Naruto got off his seat, quietly took his plate off the table, and placed it in the sink. Heading to his room upstairs, he could do nothing except worry about the next day.

* * *

It was a sunny morning with the winds gently blowing, yet there was no chill. Indeed, it was what one would call perfect whether.

Or at least, it would be, if Naruto were at a normal part of the Leaf.

However, right now, the blond had just arrived at the Forest of Death; or at least directly behind the large metallic fence that separated it from the Forty-Third Training Ground, which was to its south.

More importantly, the first thing Naruto noticed, besides the fact that he was alone, was the tall red tower that was seemingly placed at the centre of the forest. Was that a part of their test, he wondered?

Pondering that question had to wait, as he heard the shuffling of another pair of footsteps. He turned to his right to see a familiar clothed Hanabi, who also carried herself with a serious demeanour and seemingly ignored his very existence, as she walked right past him and stood before the fence. She scowled, before breathing and forming a few hand seals.

_'Is she...?'_

**_'The Byakugan.'_**

Although the princess was at the corner of his eyes, he could still somewhat see (and feel) the pulse of chakra in her eyes. She was squinting, and turned her head around slightly to seemingly look in the forest. Naruto wondered just how far she could see. Dozens of kilometres, perhaps?

The Hyuga suddenly sighed, and Naruto no longer felt the incredible pressure she was emanating from before. He was going to ask what happened, but his plans were cut off by another set of footsteps. It had to be Satsuki, and his instincts were correct, as Hanabi turned to his direction — not to look at him— but to face the individual somewhere behind him.

"Satsuki."

"Hanabi."

The two nodded at each other with a unique type of ferocity that he had never seen before, yet...there was some ounce of respect in there. After all, in their many years in the Academy, the two had sparred here and there. If he recalled though, Hanabi held the advantage in terms of wins. According to Aibou, it was because Satsuki hadn't gained the full abilities of her clan's Kekkei Genkei yet; the Sharingan. Apparently, the number of tomoe's on one's Sharingan determined its effectiveness. Satsuki only had two tomoe in each eye, as opposed to her brother who had three in one and two in the other; an elite Uchiha would have three whole tomoe in each.

Speaking of, the Uchiha (unlike the Hyuga) was clothed slightly less modest today, having removed her sleeveless black vest, leaving her in a pure white dress. It articulated her chest a bit more, not that Naruto honestly cared. Romantic and relationship-esque topics brought back bad memories. He sighed to himself, hoping to prevent a certain memory from flooding in.

An instant later, his wishes came true in the form of their purple-haired sensei appearing in-between the two (nearly) clashing females.

"Hey-o!" she greeted loudly, waving an arm around and causing the two Genin to step back. Grinning from cheek to cheek, the older female walked backwards, with their gazes following. As soon as her back hit the metal fence, her grin faded away into a more casual smile.

"So how you guys been doin'?"

Naruto glanced at the girls, who were also looking equally as confused. For a Tokubetsu-Jounin (he had learned this from his father), she was super laid-back. From what they heard from the Academy, ninja of her rank were supposed to be diligent yet powerful. Although the latter part may be the case, the former did not.

After an awkward couple seconds, Satsuki cleared her throat, "Fine."

"Good." Hanabi added afterwards.

'_Should I answer? Should I say good, great, fine— wait, should I answer at all?'_

"Um..." Dammit, too late, now he had to answer! "...g-great." Naruto stuttered out. Curse his social anxiety! How the hell was he gonna pass if he couldn't even speak!?

"Awesome!" Placing a hand on her hip, she grinned ferociously, "Unlike some of the other Jounin, I'm pretty impatient."

_**'At least she's honest about it.' **_Aibou shrugged in his head, making Naruto sweat-drop. However, the words that followed afterwards caused him to reconsider his lax behaviour.

"So your test is only going to be an hour long." she shoved her hands into her jacket's pockets cockily. "Your job is to force me to go serious."

A couple seconds of silence followed, with Hanabi finally asking with a quirk of her eyebrow, "That's it?"

Anko grinned. "Yup! Me going serious equals you passing. Capeesh!?"

That was odd. Was the exam supposed to be so...informal?

He couldn't expand on those thoughts, as their sensei raised both her hands and started lowering her fingers. Naruto's mind immediately went into overdrive when she called out, "Ten, nine—"

_**'It's starting.' **_Aibou alerted him sternly. Except...where could he really go? Through the fence, and into the Forest of Death? Would that be a better option than facing off against a Tokubetsu-Jounin? _**'I suggest you stand and fight.'**_

_'Against a Jounin?'_ Naruto was exasperated,_ 'I could barely fight my Chunin sensei, and that was when they were holding back!' _He heard Aibou sigh. Not in frustration, but at the fact that they were totally screwed.

It seemed that the girls had similar thoughts, or at least that's what Naruto guessed, since the two hadn't taken a single step. In fact, Hanabi had a visible smirk on her face.

"Sensei, I already looked into the forest with my Byakugan. I know you setup traps in case we tried to flee into the forest."

The younger girl's statement made Naruto falter. Satsuki silently nodded along with her, as piercing red eyes flared up for an instant.

But wait a minute, did that mean...Anko had been late on purpose!? To catch them off guard!?

_**'Clever.'**_

_'Something that's not good for us.'_

"Huh." Anko blinked in genuine surprise, stopping her countdown at 4. "Didn't expect that. You guys are pretty good. Definitely Chunin level."

Definitely _debatable_, Naruto yelled in his head, much to Aibou's amusement.

"Well, like I said, I'm impatient." a sadistic glint appeared in her eyes, as she bent her knees and prepared to charge at them. Immediately, the two girls put up their guard, but it was too little, too late. "So let's get started!"

Team 11's eyes widened as Anko suddenly disappeared, with her spot briefly being replaced by an afterimage. An instant later, Naruto felt a fist stuck in his stomach, and he could feel himself prepared to vomit something out. Naruto didn't even realize he was on his knees clutching his abdomen until she spoke up. "Try to keep up, brat."

"Gh...!" He was coughing up blood, which he tried to catch with his palm, to no avail. There was too much. He glanced up to see an inane smile plastered on her face, and he could do nothing as her leg made heavy contact with his face, propelling him through the air. Naruto could feel only pain as his back made contact with the metal fence. It looked like that whatever the fence was made out of, it was strong enough to stop his momentum completely and prevent him from launching into the forest.

That would've made the current situation even worse, if that were possible for him.

Naruto slowly lifted his head, and watched in amazement as snakes began to slither out of Anko's sleeves. The two left standing were a bit uncomfortable, but definitely not of the fight. Standing opposite from one another, they had already activated their respective Kekkei Genkei: the Byakugan for Hanabi, and the Sharingan for Satsuki.

Anko only smirked, raising one hand at each of her students. Satsuki had already begun to form hand seals, while Hanabi shifted back. Without warning, the snakes sprung forward, several attempting to bite each female.

However, they were more than prepared.

In the blink of an eye, a barrier tinted in blue warped around the short Hyuga, ripping all the offending snakes to shreds. A moment later, it began to dissipate, revealing the slowly twirling girl.

On the other end—

"Fire Style: Fox Fire!"

Several orbs of fires surrounded the Uchiha, before flying forward and intercepting the slithery creatures. Burning to a crisp as they made contact with the reptilians, Satsuki smirked and proceeded to kick her feet off the ground.

Speeding towards the somewhat astonished Jounin, Satsuki launched a long-winded kick geared at the jaw. It was less than inch from making contact with her, but somehow, Anko was fast enough to catch the front of her foot with her bare hand. Despite the block, Satsuki persisted, and with her left hand, formed a Horse seal.

Anko's eyes nearly flew out of her sockets when she glanced down at what she was doing.

'_One-handed hand seals?'_

Boar, Dog, Dragon—

'_How the hell—!?'_ Anko internalised, before sensing an eruption of chakra.

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" Using her sensei's palm as a kick back, Satsuki took a deep breath, knitting chakra through her stomach, before proceeding to let out a giant ball of fire out of her mouth.

_'Shit!' _Since the attack was launched at essentially point-blank range, Anko could only raise her arms up in defence as the flames made contact.

_**Boom!**_

Satsuki's feet lightly touched the ground — a comfortable landing — watching as black smoke rose from where her jutsu had exploded. Most would assume after a direct hit like that that the battle was over. However, their opponent was a Jounin; she couldn't afford to let her guard down. Not to mention her Sharingan was still picking up traces of chakra inside the smoulder.

Hanabi was only several feet behind where Anko was, and did not allow the sudden course of smoke to deter her. Holding her Gentle Fist stance and Kekkei Genkei, it looked like she was still trying to find an opening of some sort.

Naruto, who had finally recovered, got to his feet and took a couple steps forward, his eyes wide from what Satsuki had just done. She had never done anything like it in the Academy, so to the blond, it was a massive shock. '_My god...'_

_**'Hm. One-handed hand seals...' **_Aibou muttered in his head, '_**In the Academy books, only your father and few other rare Shinobi have been able to do such a thing. As far as I'm aware, I don't think any of Konoha's current Jounin have that ability.'**_

_'That's insane...where did she even learn something like that?' _The only person she _possibly_ could've learned it from was either Shisui or Itachi, assuming they even know one-handed hand seals. But that didn't make any sense; Shisui was teaching Sasuke. There was no way the Anbu Captain could make time to do S-rank missions while also training both Sasuke and Satsuki. It was possible, sure, but highly unlikely.

Itachi was an even more unlikely case.

His thoughts were stopped by his own set of coughing, as the dense smoke went to his direction. Waving it away, the field finally cleared.

Standing in the middle of it was Anko, her arms still raised in a cross. However, one could immediately see the light first-degree burn marks Satsuki had left. She was clearly gritting her teeth in pain, and glared up at the Genin in front of her. Satsuki let the classic Uchiha smirk grace her face, with the Sharingan spinning and all.

"Alright, alright..." With smoke still emitting from her forearms, she sighed, "You got me there. Good move."

Satsuki blinked, while Hanabi shifted back uncomfortably.

"Yep, yep! I'll admit it firsthand!" Anko nodded with a proud expression on her face. A bead of sweat dripped down his whiskered cheek. What was she going on about? "That right there was my full power. So technically, you pass the test."

...

"Eh?" Satsuki lost all tension in her body and let her arms rest on her sides. "What?"

Anko only scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "To be honest, I had to direct pretty much all of my chakra to block that attack. Not that I would've died if I didn't, but I probably would've gotten third-degree burns at the very least. That'd be super annoying to fight with and then heal later." she sighed, before looking back up at the Uchiha, "You get me?"

"So..." Hanabi began slowly, "...we pass?"

Anko nodded enthusiastically. "Yup!"

Five seconds passed before Satsuki spoke up.

"...are you sure?" Satsuki asked, to which Anko nodded again.

"Absolutely!"

"...does that mean I can go home?" Naruto muttered under his breath. Fortunately, nobody heard him, since he was quite a distance from them.

_**'Probably.'**_

_'Really?'_

**_'Kinda.' _**Alright, Aibou clearly knew something was up, Naruto thought. He squinted at his new teacher, and only saw a sadistic grin form on her face.

"But..." Oh, no. "I feel as though I didn't get to see enough of your abilities."

"Meaning...?" Hanabi raised a curious brow.

"Meaning, I want us to do a team exercise tomorrow. All of you versus all of me."

Naruto nearly tripped over as he took his first few steps towards her. "But sensei, didn't you say we would pass if we made you use your full power?"

Well, it was less of _we_ and more of Satsuki.

"Yes, and I meant what I said. I don't break my word." she pointed a thumb at herself, "We're officially Team 11. However, I don't feel like we should take missions unless I think you're ready, you hear me?"

"If you think we're not ready, then we should do it right here and now." Hanabi suddenly said. "Postponing it another day is utterly pointless. None of us are injured."

Naruto swore he saw her momentarily glance at his direction, as if begging him to deny her statement and "see what happens".

_'As if I'd ever do something like that. I can barely speak, let alone talk back.' _Naruto murmured in his head. The only thing he could now was sigh, and awkwardly nod along with her.

"Hm." Anko wryly smiled, placing a hand on her chin. Closing her eyes, she humphed.

"I like you guys. Alright, you pass again. No more test tomorrow."

...

'_Just what the hell is wrong with her?'_

**_'Good question. I don't know.'_**

* * *

"Report."

The word was uttered by the man in the chair; propped elbows onto a desk, along with interlocking fingers so that his chin rested on them. This was the office of the Yondaime Hokage. Huddled together in front of him, each dressed in the typical Konoha green vest, were the many Jounin that were meant to lead the new generation. The faceless elite ninja gave their opinion along with a description of their team. One by one, each declared their Genin to be unworthy of passing.

That was, until, a man with beyond spiked silver hair stepped up. Although usually seen with a certain orange book, this time, he was prepped and ready. The Yondaime could not help but let a smile flicker on his face as he saw his old pupil.

"Yondaime-sama, Team 7 passed the bell test..." Already there was a murmur amongst the elite. Kakashi had never _ever_ passed a team before. Yes, his team consisted of the Yondaime's daughter, the son of the chief of the Konoha Military Police Force, and the greatest pupil of Tsunade of the Sannin, but everyone knew he was the type to see through biases. "...with mixed results."

The Yondaime's looked in the eye, his brow a touch creased. "Do tell, Kakashi."

Sighing, he spoke up in recollection of what transpired several hours ago. "First off, Sasuke is quite strong. As in, he's likely approaching Jounin levels of power. I had to use my Sharingan to put him down."

Now _that _got everyone's attention. A mere Genin (especially one that recently graduated) approaching the level of a Jounin? The rumours did suggest he was a genius on-par with his brother Itachi, but this _was_ Kakashi they were talking about. The chances of him high-balling an individual were incredibly low.

"Seems interesting. Wonder how he'd do against me." Anko — stationed at the far back — cracked an almost audible smile. Kakashi barely glanced at her.

"Very well, I'm sure. Anyway, problem is, he's far too independent. Typical of an Uchiha, yes, but his reasoning for it is a bit more...personal it seems." the Yondaime nodded, recognising it was something a bit too private to talk about in front of so many people and asked to move onto the next member.

"Narumi is strong too. Frankly, her and Sakura make one hell of a team." the cool father flashed a smile that Kakashi sweat-dropped at. He was obviously proud, but... "Without Sasuke, they couldn't take the bell. I did give them one more chance to redeem themselves through sharing food, and fortunately, Sasuke cooperated in that part."

"And you decided to pass them that way." the Yondaime nodded in approval. "Good. The success of this team may heavily effect Konoha's future. I have high expectations, Kakashi."

Bowing, he stepped back to allow the next Jounin; a beautiful red-eyed women known as Kurenai. With a diligent look on her face, she stated, "Team 8 passed the bell test with flying colours."

'_That's a surprise.' _the Yondaime mused in his head. Most Genin could never figure out the teamwork aspect with "flying colours".

"Not to say there weren't any issues." Kurenai said, as her voice took a sharper tone. "Hinata Hyuga was a big issue within the team. She fought me head-on, and though lost, was able to get a few of my chakra points." she raised her left arm, rolling back her sleeves to her shoulder. Though Kurenai's outfit was already strung with white bandages, there also seemed to be some that were unnaturally thick on the elbow area. She began to unwrap them, and once again, there were a few mutters, as there were several large red dots embedded on her arm.

"Like I said, I was able to knock her out with an A-rank Genjutsu, but the point is, she's very capable in close-range. Kiba and Akamaru make a great pair too. However, once I had Akamaru locked in an illusion, Kiba was far too distraught and agitated to do anything meaningful. It seems his teamwork aspect is also a weakness."

"I see. Shino?"

'_Hopefully she got something from him.' _the Hokage thought. Shino had also gone through his own share of troubles. When he was a child, Danzo Shimura had approached him and one other Aburame boy named Torune into joining the secret organization known as Root. Shibi, Shino's father and the clan head, tried to diffuse the situation by asking to talk with him, the Yondaime Hokage.

At that time though, Danzo had a lot of authority, along with the paperwork necessary to take not only one, but both boys. Furthermore, the village was still recovering from the Kyuubi attack, and Root requested (more like ordered) the need for children from all clans, from the Yamanaka to the Uchiha. There was nothing anyone could do except let the old man take the two boys.

And take him he did. For 3 years, Root kept him as a ninja of their own. However, once Minato (with Jiraiya's help) gathered enough evidence of corruption, he was able to kick the man out of the council and disband Root forever. With that came the freedom of the boys...or at least, that's what they thought. Danzo claimed the one known as Torune had died in a mission (Minato had his suspicions about that), though he did allow them to take back Shino due to the political backlash of taking a clan head's son.

Unfortunately, the damage had already been done. Shino was beyond emotionless, more so than the Aburame typically were. He rarely even appeared at the clan estate itself, and seemingly spent his time training. Shibi tried his best to rekindle their bond, but nothing worked. It was why the man was hardly at clan meetings. Truly, Minato felt for Shibi; if his own son, Naruto, had been gone for 3 years, just to return as a robot that would ignore everything he said, his heart would shatter too.

Minato glanced up, and noticed Kurenai had been silent for a while. "I...didn't really get to fight him. He was able to convince Kiba, Akamaru, and Hinata to work together, and using them as a distraction, he took the bells with his insects. It was a devious plan, and one I didn't expect."

"Understood. Keep an eye out on him." the Yondaime gruffed. Kurenai lowered her head, and promptly backed away to let the next Jounin go. With the given opportunity, Asuma strode forward, a casual cigarette in his mouth and all. He puffed out some smoke, before starting his report.

"Team 10 passed. Ino immediately convinced the two lug heads that they should all work together. Shikamaru pretty much thought it'd make things less troublesome, so Chouji agreed too. Together, the three of them got the bells; open and shut case. Nobody acted like an idiot and charged at me." Asuma let another air smoke into the room, and the Yondaime sighed. He had told the man several times to quit smoking, especially in his vicinity. But even the Sandaime smoked, so as acknowledgement to the deceased Hokage, he allowed it.

"Good work, Asuma. Just try and help develop their teamwork a little more, alright?"

With a lazy nod, Asuma left to let Anko take the stand. If he was honest with himself, this was the team he was most unsure of. Perhaps he really should've given Naruto a different sensei, like Ebisu or—

"Team 12 passed. Or at least in my opinion." she scratched the back of her head somewhat nervously. "I'll be honest, I got real cocky and let that girl, Satsuki, get a real blow on me. My test pretty much needed them to have me go serious. I thought it'd take all of them, but..."

"So what did Satsuki do?" the Yondaime inquired with a raised brow. To have a Jounin go serious, even for a moment, was impressive. He had to ask though: what the hell kind of training was Fugaku subjecting his children to?

"One-handed hand seals." she replied simply. Many heads in the room were turned by those words. Even Kakashi probed for more.

"One-handed...? What Jutsu did she use?"

"Power-wise, it was a typical Fire Ball Jutsu."

"Huh..." Kakashi scratched his cheek curiously, "Didn't even know it was possible to do it with that jutsu."

"I didn't think it was possible with any jutsu, really." Anko grinned. The Hokage cleared up his throat loudly, prompting Anko to focus on her report again, "Hanabi was pretty tough. Didn't really get to fight her though, but from with how smoothly she countered my attacks, she's at least on-par with Satsuki. Well, actually, academy records state she's better."

"I see, I see." All _very_ interesting, but what the Yondaime really cared about was his son. In the Academy, his performance was quite mediocre— not that there was anything with that! Even the great Sannin and his sensei, Jiraiya, was a deadlast. Jiraiya was a child when that happened, whereas Naruto was an actual teenager (technically adult in Konoha legal terms). Generally, the true potential of a ninja would be unleashed during his age.

So...did his potential get unleashed?

"How about Naruto?"

Anko scratched her cheek, "Ah..."

Minato waited patiently for answer, and when she had been silent after a solid ten seconds, he sighed. "Just tell me." If he did terribly, then really, there was nothing he could do. Maybe tell Kushina he needed a bit of trainin, or perhaps he could have a talk with Naruto, asking if he wanted to be a ninja in the first place. There was nothing wrong with being a civilian, just that he would have to pour some resources into finding him some guards and such.

He looked straight into the female Tokubetsu-Jounin's eyes, who didn't meet his gaze.

"...I forget...?"

'_Oh.'_

* * *

_**Japanese Terms**_

**_Kyuubi = Nine Tailed Fox_**

**_Konoha = village hidden in the leaves_**

**_Yondaime = Fourth_**

_**chan = **_**_used to refer to children and female family members, close friends_**

_**kun = **_**_used to address men who are younger or the same age as the speaker._**

_**Onee-sama = **_**_refers to a highly respected older sister or female_**

_**Onii-sama = refers to a highly respected older brother or male**_

**_Okaa-chan = Casual. Close to "mommy."_**

_**Tou-chan = Children and lower class family use it. Close to "daddy."**_

**_Otou-san = refers to dad._**

**_Otou-sama = Very formal for father._**

* * *

**A/N:**

**Hello, hello! I'll be honest, this was actually a combination of Chapter 2 and 3. I decided to make this chapter longer because (so far) I have around 10 arcs planned for this entire fic and still going strong. Not even sure if I'll be able to do all that, but the point is that having two hundred chapters would be a bit much, so hopefully, having around 6-10k words per chapter should limit it to less than the triple digits. Hopefully.**

**I will say this now though: Naruto is not going to be having a harem or orgy with Satsuki, Hanabi, and Anko.**

**Hope I've made that clear.**

**I want to make them actual characters rather than just potential love interests.**

**However,_ Anko is off-limits since I'm not really comfortable with writing a 16 year old romantically involved with a 28 year old._ Others might be, but I'm not. Sorry for those disappointed. **

**Anko is also not sex-obsessed or completely crazy in this fic. Very unpredictable and hyperactive, yes, not bloodthirsty or making 21+ mature jokes constantly. ****I'm trying to imitate her character in Boruto with a more immature side since she's in her prime. I always found her cool and felt she was wasted in Boruto, so I'm trying to give her some spotlight here. I did have to go with a lot of fanon headcannon because her personality isn't properly explored in the actual canon.**

**I will be honest and admit straight-up that Satsuki is pretty much a genderbent Sasuke. I didn't want to put Sai in for future plot reasons, and Hanabi was fixed as a teammate from the beginning. In this one Naruto fanfic, there was this filler character (part of the Kurama clan or something) that was the third member of Team Anko. But I realized that if I did that that I'd just be blatantly copying, so that was a no-go. Thus, I picked Satsuki. **

**Check out her character model on my profile! Tell me if the link doesn't work lol**

**As for squad leader, it was a toss-up between Yamato and Anko, but I figured that Anko is far more fun to write, so I picked her. As for Yamato, you'll see (;**

**Btw, I love power-scaling. Naruto and the other character's progression are mostly planned and should make sense. As of now, he got his ass kicked by Anko, obviously since I've stated numerous times he's average. Might turn some people off the story, but that's how it is for now.**


	3. Moving Services

The next two weeks for Team 12 went by very quickly. They were thrown into mission after mission. Fortunately for Naruto, they were easy D and C rank missions. Apparently, to contrast, Team 7 had a bunch of missions pertaining to a cat named Tora. All Naruto knew was that the cat was swift enough to make Narumi grumble about it during dinner. Previously, only losing to Sasuke and complaining about Sasuke were the things that interrupted her ramen time.

As for himself, well...it frankly wasn't going too well. Hanabi and Satsuki disliked each other, yes, but had a begrudging respect as well. He, on the other, was mostly ignored, particularly by Hanabi. Satsuki just didn't want to talk to him.

Yep, definitely not a good sign after the three had been hanging out for a week straight.

Their sensei tried to fill the void with after-mission dango session, but at the end of it, Anko would get carried away and tell them to leave so that she could get drunk with strangers.

None of them wanted to take responsibility for what would happen afterwards, so they always complied.

Which was what he was doing now; walking back home after another round of failed team-bonding. He had already split with Hanabi and Satsuki, each going their own path. As Shikamaru would say; "What a drag."

**_'You simply need to be patient.'_** a voice in his head asserted,_** 'They'll accept you soon.'**_

_'I hope so, Aibou, 'cuz so far, this just isn't working out...'_

**_'At least you've collected over 50,000 ryo over the week.' _**

_'I guess...' _Naruto glanced at the pockets of his black tracksuit. His Gama-chan was filled to the brink, something that had never happened before. His parents never allowed Narumi and him to have an allowance due to issues of abusing it. The only exception was if they wanted to buy ramen, in which case, they were allowed to take as much 20,000.

Hey, he wasn't complaining. Ramen was the food of the gods.

* * *

Even with such an oddball of a family, nothing special was happening at home either.

Throughout the week, he had been consistently playing with Mito for an hour, reading some manga, and then studying some clan scrolls. The latter, which he was doing currently, wasn't progressing well at all.

"So to seal weapons inside a scroll, you need 11 'Buki wa Kuchiyose' kanji in different patterns..."

"—12, actually." the pipsqueak voice corrected.

He turned to nod at his younger sister, "—12. The kanji surround the weapon in a circular shape, each with 5 cm of distance between them—"

"—4 and a half." his sister interjected. Letting a sheepish yet thankful smile cross his face, he continued the exercise, using a black brush to finally begin drawing the seal. After a few minutes of Mito gently holding his hand and guiding him, he was finished. Placing a rusted kunai at the centre of the completed art, smoke suddenly blew up in their faces, and when it dissipated, the weapon was gone.

Success.

"Thanks for helping me out, Mito-chan. You're the best." Naruto grinned at her, and was slightly surprised to see sparkles in her eyes.

"Of course, Onii-sama! Anything for you!" she beamed at him, not only proud of her own Fuinjutsu prowess but also at her older brother's improving abilities. Though slight it was, as a young child, it seemed as though he had improved leaps and bounds. "Tou-chan is awesome for having me help you."

'_Actually, you were only supposed to watch, but somehow, it got to this.' _Naruto had a bead of sweat drip down his face. '_I think __Otou-san might've been disappointed in my performance in the Genin test for him to assign me this.'_

**_'More than likely.'_** Aibou concurred. Naruto let out a heavy sigh. Being a ninja was one thing, but living up to family expectations was another.

* * *

"You guys are gonna be going on a C-rank mission. Without me."

The three of them blinked at the announcement by their sensei, and stared quizzically at her. She had told them yesterday to meet inside the "Dango Shop"—

—Yes, that was what the shop was called, and rightfully so because it was _the _dango shop and subsequently sold the best of the best.

Back to the matter on hand though...

_'A C-rank mission? I mean, we've done a few before, but this is kinda sudden, isn't it?' _Naruto could tell that was the collective thought amongst them.

_'Is that even allowed?' _Naruto then asked in bewilderment. It was a good question. Generally, a team needed the supervision of a Jounin to be able to complete mission, especially if it was a C in rank or higher. D-rank was acceptable, sure, but a C-rank?

_**'As you would say, something is fishy.'**_

Without warning or consultation, Hanabi declared, "We accept the mission."

Satsuki darted an eye at her, as if somewhat put-off, yet still seemed to agree with her response. Naruto sighed tiredly, having gotten used to this. Indeed, the two females would always make mission decisions without even discussing it with one another.

_Sorry_ if he couldn't understand sign language.

Anko laughed, before taking a bite out of her dango. "Good, good. That's why I like you guys. The mission details are here."

She grabbed a beige envelope from the pocket's of her jacket and placed it on the table. The three were sitting side-by-side, with their sensei across from there, but since Satsuki was in the centre, she was an instant quicker than the Hyuga in snatching it. As she opened it up, Naruto looked over her shoulder to take a peak, though she read it aloud anyway:

"'Gotta guard family of peddlers from the Land of Vegetables to Konoha.' That's it?" the usually stoic Uchiha raised a brow, and looked up, "Sensei, what is—"

And she was gone.

Their sensei just ditched them. Great. They really were on their own.

It was then Naruto noticed a small package left on the table. There was a sticky note on it too, which Satsuki once again picked up and read.

"'Hand this to the family for certification.'"

A sigh escaped his lips for the hundredth time this week. What was up with the vague messages she gave them?

'_Land of Vegetables? That's at the South-Eastern border of the Land of Fire. Should take around 8 hours to get there, give or take.' _Naruto was at least moderately well-versed in geography and politics since he was the son of the Hokage. Combined with the Academy curriculum, he likely knew more than the average person.

"Based on the description of this mission," Satsuki spoke up, "We're supposed to meet-up with this group of movers, and take them back to Konoha. For us to get there, it'll take around 8 hours, but to get back, it'll likely take two days total."

Since all three of them were the sons and daughters of important high-profiled ninja, it was logical that they too could make that same deduction.

"Once they arrive, I suppose they'll pay us?" the shortest member of their squad asked. Satsuki nodded, with Aibou raising his voice at that same moment.

_**'They likely requested the mission through a messenger bird.'**_

_'Thanks for the input, Aibou.' _Naruto had gotten used to the man gibbering out "fun facts". Although useful, it was sometimes a bit unnecessary.

"Should we get going then?" Hanabi questioned again, taking the small brown package and awkardly holding it. It wasn't heavy. The Hyuga Princess did however notice its soft density. Naturally, it wasn't in her business to investigate; this was a mission and she was a ninja.

"We'll meet in an hour. Gather what you need."

The usually dull onyx eyes of the Uchiha had a gleam in them. Naruto thought he might have imagined it, but was it...sorrow?

* * *

In a straight pathway surrounded by forest, two wooden cargoes were being pushed. The front one's haul was covered with a gray cloth, and outlined in such a way that implied a harvest of some kind. Two men were pushing the wagon from its back, and one was at the front guiding it. More notably, a little girl with brown hair and a cute red ribbon tie was sitting on the load, playfully dangling her legs.

The second wagon at the back had several barrels tied together, with the same number of people moving it— one front, two back.

There was a clear in difference in effort, however. While most were struggling to move the goods, the two at the very back were under no strain whatsoever. In fact, they were quietly whispering amongst one another.

"We'll be hitting the border soon, right?"

"Yeah. We won't be seeing this landscape for a while."

The two men conversing glanced at the brown-haired male to their right. He was walking without carrying any sort of baggage, which fit with the air of superiority around him. It was a sharp contrast to his farmer-like clothing, not to mention the beanie hat he was wearing that covered most of his hair, except for the two chin-length bangs framing both sides of his face.

"..."

"...are you alright, Shun-kun?" an old lady suddenly posed the question, and the man known as Shun glanced at her. Dark skin and pure white hair, she looked like she could drop dead any second. She needed support from her granddaughter, a black-haired adolescent who was holding her arm.

"I'm fine." he said with a tint of contempt. The old lady slowly nodded, and focused on the walk again. Her benevolent offspring shot nervous glances at the three. From a faraway perspective, one could tell they were not apart of the family.

* * *

Knocking on the door lightly, the female Uchiha waited, until a deep voice responded from the other side.

"Enter."

Sighing in relief, the girl proceeded to open the door, before turning around to close it. The motion was done as if it were a habit, something crafted through many years.

Twirling back around, she was met with the sight of a generic hospital room: a table, bed, IV stand, all coloured plainly. It was boring, and a place nearly anyone would get bored of. Of course, this _was _a hospital room, and Satsuki was here for more than just sight-seeing.

Indeed, as the man who rested on the bed was none other than Itachi Uchiha; her oldest brother.

Letting a smile grace her face — one she allowed no other to see — she walked forward and sat on the chair that was next to the sleeping patient. It seemed that she had visited him so many times that the doctors allowed the chair to remain there.

Apparently, the twenty-one year old was not asleep, as his one eye suddenly fluttered open. Though very pale and weak, he could still let a smile grace his face.

"You're awake?"

Itachi slowly moved his head to her direction, his eyes gazing at her kindly, "I sensed you coming inside."

Even though he had long since retired as a ninja, he still had the tendencies of one. It was something he couldn't shake away, no matter how far from the battlefield he was. Being a survivor of war did that to you, is what Itachi explained it as.

"You're going on a mission?"

The question, or rather statement, made Satsuki brighten up. "Yes."

"Do you like your team?"

Satsuki paused, contemplating the question. '_Anko, Hanabi, and Naruto...'_

"Anko-sensei is odd, but strong. Exactly like you told me." she really couldn't tell whether she'd get along with her. She was overly quirky, yet supremely powerful. Only time would tell how their relationship would go.

"I'm sure you can learn a lot from her, despite her tendencies." Itachi nodded. He recalled seeing the purple-haired Jounin during his times at Anbu when he had captured an enemy and needed to extract information. In that regard, she was unrivalled, except by Ibuki Morino.

"How is Hanabi Hyuga, then?"

At the mention of her name, it was as if a switch had been flipped. A frown filled her face, and she groaned, "Egotistical, pompous, arrogant, stuck-up, over confident—"

"—those all mean the same thing, Satsuki." Itachi deadpanned. His sister simply groaned again. It was at times like these that Itachi forgot that she was still a young teenager. Whiny, gossipy, complaintive...all very real traits that Satsuki oh-so desperately tried to hide.

"But it's true!" she argued back. Humphing, she crossed her arms, "She barely talks to us, like she thinks she can beat me in a fight."

Itachi only hummed. "Can she?"

Satsuki froze, and recalled the times she had sparred with her. More times than not, it did not end well for her. Her own Sharingan was constantly countered by her Byakugan. Itachi let out a small chuckle.

"Whatever." she frowned.

"How about Naruto-kun?"

Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. The so-called disappointment of the Hokage's family. He had heard many rumours of the upcoming prodigy, Mito, and the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, Narumi. Both were great girls with very bright futures in their horizon.

Naruto, on the other hand, was utterly average. Not a deadlast or anything, but simply...nothing special. Itachi had talked to the boy here and there when they were young, and to be frank, he really didn't inherit any sort of special ability from his parents. It was as if he were talking to a civilian. Personally, Itachi enjoyed that. It was better than talking to a stuck-up prodigy, or an overly depressed child.

Sometimes, being normal was a good thing.

"I don't talk to him much." she admitted after a second of pause, "He's obviously not that strong and he's kinda weird. There's not much we can talk about anyway."

"Well, pretty soon, you will have to." the ex-Anbu replied, turning his head back towards the ceiling, "The Chunin Exams are coming up in around five months. Without tight coordination, you won't make it."

Satsuki raised a brow at the idea, "You're assuming sensei will make us enter."

Itachi remained silent, as if asking "_assuming_?"

"...okay, yeah, knowing her, she might do something like that. But why're you so concerned?"

"Shisui has been telling me things." he said, his hollow eyes suddenly staring into hers. "This upcoming Chunin Exams is going to be incredibly important. You'll have to be careful."

Satsuki opened her mouth, but said nothing. She had no idea what her older brother was talking about. It didn't sound good though.

* * *

Irritated white oculars stared up at a short girl with a unique yellowish-brown vest. She seemed apprehensive based on the soft nature of her eyes, yet stared right back at the annoyed pair of eyes, which belonged to the infamous Hinata Hyuga. She was sitting on her kitchen chair backwards, a piece of toast in her mouth.

"A C-rank mission, eh?"

Hanabi replied in a heartbeat, "Yes, Onee-sama."

Hinata murmured to herself, likely a rant geared towards the unfairness of her situation. She was currently living with her sensei, Kurenai Yuki, because of some difficulties with her father. Hinata owed the woman her life and than some.

That meant she needed to do as many missions as possible. It was the only way. D-rank missions weren't cutting it. With her younger sister already going on a C-rank mission without her Jounin sensei, what room did that leave her? How could she repay her sensei's kindness?

"If you wish, you can join us."

The bobbed hair girl posed the opportunity with an abundance of hope. Unfortunately, her sister shook her head.

"Look, as much as I love ya Hanabi, I'm already in someone else's debt." the Hyuga in question nodded obediently. She knew how much Hinata respected Kurenai. "I'll carve my own path as a ninja. I told that to the old man, didn't I? I can't go back on my word."

"Understood, Onee-sama." Hanabi glanced around at her peripheral. "Where is Kurenai-san now?"

Hinata chewed into her breakfast and answered with a muffle, "She went to grab us a mission from Hokage-sama."

"I see." Hanabi paused, before asking, "Does that not mean you should meet with your team?"

"Nah." her sister waved off, "I've got ten minutes until sensei gets to them. I'll make it on-time."

"Understood. I shall take my leave then, Onee-sama."

With a curt bow, she turned to leave. Hinata gaze never left the girl's back until she was completely out of her sight. The amount of respect the princess gave her, it was overbearing and unnecessary. She had plenty of flaws: tardiness, perverseness...

Nonetheless, Hanabi was always by her side. There wasn't a single moment in the Academy where she left it.

As for why she did it, well...it was terrible. A memory Hinata would rather repress forever than recall.

Fortunately, the sound of the toaster snapped her out of it. The Genin had to forget the past and focus on the present.

And right now, that was getting to her team on time.

* * *

A large, almost imposing figure was standing rigid with his hands in his pockets, a stance plainly telling that he was waiting for something, or rather, someone. Two rugged scars were slashed across his face, an injury that would likely continue onto his head if not for the forehead protector preventing anymore sight-seeing. If one were well-versed within the inner workers of Konoha, they would also recognize the Torture and Interrogation Force uniform he had under his menacing black trench coat.

This was Ibiki Morino, the head of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force.

Hearing a quick pace of footsteps and a turn of the door, he turned back towards the glass wall. At the other side was a a young man, sitting on a chair with his arms restrained by chakra seals. Despite his laid-back demeanour, something that was putting-off even Ibiki, his dark brown hair was sweaty and his black eyes were staring right at the tall man. The fact was that it was a hidden compartment, yet he somehow knew.

"Thank you for coming, Anko." the purple-haired Tokubetsu-Jounin nodded curtly, standing next to him, "I didn't expect such a quick response, especially since you took in a Genin team."

"Eh, they'll be fine." Anko shrugged it off. She had a surprise in-store for them, one that she _really _wanted to witness personally. However, the current predicament triumphed over any sort of personal entertainment. "Anyway, so you're sure this guy is one of Orochimaru's elite? He doesn't look like much. I'm surprised you even need my help."

Ibiki simply replied, "He's tougher than he looks. He's given me a lot of information, particularly of his own history, but nothing about Orochimaru himself."

"A loyal one, eh?"

"More like professional courtesy." came the sharp response, "He said he spent years acting as a spy, inserting himself into villages, and even acted as a prisoner in one of Orochimaru's dungeon. However, that's when Orochimaru caught him and instituted him into his forces."

"Forces..." Anko muttered under her breath. They had learned from Jiraiya-sama's spy network that Orochimaru had built his own village: Otogakure. According to the Sannin's information though, it was not really a village, rather it was a network of laboratories composed of various hideouts and bases scattered throughout the Land of Sound and various other countries.

It was a dangerous operation, and one the Yondaime was watching carefully. As a former student of his, Anko would do what she could to help, especially when they captured his minions.

Ibiki kept going, "He said his actions were to aid his sickly sister from a far off village." Now _that _caught Anko's attention, "He wasn't lying. I could tell."

"Interesting. I'm sure you already used that as leverage, right?"

"I did. He wasn't buying it."

Anko squinted at the man, who had just tilted his head straight back. She was surprised he knew of their location, though that would be expected if he was a sensory type. His outfit consisted of a purple loose fitting vest that showed some of his defined chest. The rest of his mid-section was covered with bandages, likely an injury inflicted during his capture.

"Which team caught him?" she asked curiously, putting a finger on her chin as she continued analyzing him.

"It was a specialised team; Shisui leading Yugao and Tenzo. From what I heard, it was quite a troublesome mission for them."

"Wait, did this guy take them on by himself?"

Shisui was the strongest Anbu in Konoha currently, a fact the other Anbu would not try to dispute, and one of the top-dogs in the village alongside the clan heads. Anko knew that if she were to go up against him, it would end badly for her. Even amongst the Jounin teachers, only Kakashi would be able to swap hands with him.

Hopefully that wasn't the case.

"No, there were three others; it was a team filled with Curse Mark users." Anko winced at the mention of the forbidden seal.

Her own Curse Mark had been removed a couple years back by the Yondaime and his wife, Kushina. They worked on the solution at least a decade. For that, Anko was eternally grateful, and it was one of the primary reasons why she took their son under her wing. No matter what would happen, she would protect that brat with her life.

"Their names were Nurari, Kiho, and Kigiri. The first two Shisui disposed of, while the last one Yugao captured herself."

"And Tenzo got this guy." she nodded.

Nevertheless, Anko was impressed. Those three were top-of-the line Anbu. To give them even a _slight_ bit of trouble meant they were at least an A-class team.

"Alright, I got an idea then." Anko put her fist into her palm, "This guy is a real wise guy, right?"

"Based on my conversation with him, yes. Why?"

She grinned sadistically, "We can threaten to put a Curse Mark on him."

Ibiki's eyes widened, "Are you sure?"

It sounded as if he were trying to say "are you sure _you're_ okay with that?"

The Tokubetus-Jounin kept on grinning. Ever since the Hokage had helped her out, she had long since moved past her trauma. "Yeah. I'm sure he knows what'll happen if it fails even a little bit. The results might even be worse than death."

Only one in ten people could survive the Curse Seal of Heaben, and even if they did live, there was no guarantee they'd remain fully human. Since his team was filled with Curse Mark users, he should likely know the implications of having one put on him.

And it didn't matter if they really couldn't put it on him. The point was the illusion of being able to; that would be what would break him.

On their side was the Yondaime as well, a seal master of the highest calibre. If they really needed to, they could bring him in and amplify the threat even more.

* * *

One would also think running for 8 hours straight, while also climbing and leaping over hills and biomes would be very tiresome.

For Naruto, it was.

For Satsuki and Hanabi, it wasn't.

He could barely feel his legs by the time they hit the 6 hour mark, which forced them to take a short 10 minute break. Obviously they were ticked off by his lack of stamina, but what he could do? Limits were limits.

'_And I think 6 hours is pretty good.' _

In the Academy, since a day of class was around 6 hours, the longest field training session they had was 5 hours, with a 1 hour lunch. So for Naruto, 6 hours was limit-breaking.

Sitting ontop of a tree branch and leaning against its trunk felt great. Reaching into his pockets, he got out a purple orange-sized ration. Satsuki, who had her arms under her chest and standing on the branch across from him, glimpsed at the large orb in confusion. And although couldn't outright confirm it, he could feel Hanabi's Byakugan (which was supposed to be searching for any problems up ahead) lingering on his palm as well.

_**'That thing in your hand is what you literally call an** **oddball**_,_** no?'**_

Yeah, Aibou had the weirdest sense of humour out of anyone he knew.

'_It's a soldier pill, if that helps.' _Naruto replied in his head, consciously avoiding conversing with the two with them. '_I bought it from Sakura.'_

With his new excess ryo, Naruto thought to buy a bit of equipment. As he was walking through the village, however, he realized there were far too many scammers, and instead opted to go to a small stand owned by a familiar face: Sakura Haruna. She didn't sell any weapons of course, but she was promoting a new type of soldier pill she made (why she referred to it as a pill was beyond Naruto; it was bigger than an apple for Kami's sake).

Sakura claimed that: "It's overflowing with nutritious goodness mixed with fast acting digestive agents, all of which I hand-picked and rolled up into one little ball packed with energy!"

As the greatest pupil of Tsunade, and third best Medical Ninjutsu user in the village (arguably the world), who was he to doubt her?

_**'I have some doubts based on the smell, Naruto.'**_

_'Okay, yeah, I was sceptical too, but this is Sakura-san we're talking about! Even if it tastes a little bad, the results following should beyond incredible.'_

**_'Perhaps.' _**Aibou seemingly shrugged in agreement. With that in mind, Naruto finally took a bite, and _immediately_ wanted to throw up. _**'What, does it taste like a mudball...?'**_

Naruto bit his tongue as hard as he could. He was lucky that he had such a great poker face. Conversing with Aibou on a daily basis did that for him.

Having not shown a slight bit of distress from eating it, Naruto thrust his hand forward in Satsuki's direction. "S-Satsuki-s-san, you want s-some?" he tried asking with a gentle smile. Internally, he slapped himself for having stuttered. He always had trouble with honorifics, while also being awkward with girls in general, but this was mission; he really needed to keep himself together!

"...where did you even get it?"

That was the elephant in the room, Naruto realized, as he instantly felt Hanabi's Byakugan on his "soldier pill" once again.

"Ah, I-I bought it from Sakura-san."

"I see." Taking her arms off her chest, she raised a hand. "I'll take a bite then. Pass it."

"I'll have some too, I suppose." Hanabi suddenly spoke up. Naruto didn't even notice she was behind Satsuki until she raised her voice. Based on the brief side-glance Satsuki gave her though, the Uchiha had already noticed.

Naruto made an awkward laugh, and broke a few pieces from it. He lightly tossed it to them, and they promptly dug in.

_'Sakura-san's work is famous enough to get even them to talk to me, huh...'_

**_'I'm betting they're tired too.' _**Aibou chuckled. Naruto blinked at that possible. _**'More than likely, they were just too prideful to admit it.'**_

_'That's interesting. The two of them, huh...'_

After having hung out with them for a week, Naruto could actually differentiate the two in terms of personality. At first glance, one would think they were pretty similar, and outwardly, they kinda were.

_**'They embody the cool, silent female archetype in those shounen manga of yours.' **_Aibou commented randomly. _**'That's why I say you'll get there eventually, since in those stories, they warm up to the protagonist sooner or later.'**_

'_...right. Protagonist. Me.'_

The main difference, Naruto noted, was that Satsuki was simply silent and stoic, similar to her brother, Sasuke. Hanabi, on the other hand, was too prideful to talk to those "beneath her". It was why she hardly talked to Naruto and Satsuki, since she likely believed she could take them in a fight (and probably could, Naruto admitted). It was also why when they were discussing with Anko, she would be all for talking to her. And if it was her older sister, Hinata, she would be blabbering all day. Conversations were given to those she respected.

Satsuki didn't want to talk to other people for some reason; she was an anti-social person per say. Aibou claimed that her eyes were that of someone who disliked friendship. Naruto had no idea how Aibou could say that just by "looking into her eyes", but oddly enough, he believed him. There was something up with her, even he could tell.

"Naruto."

Naruto perked up at the sound of his name. Shifting his gaze, he immediately saw the bitter look on Satsuki's face. Even the bob-headed girl behind her had a sour expression.

_**'Act innocent. Works in...five out of ten situations.'**_

_'Thanks for the honesty.'_

"W-what?"

"What the hell is this?" Hanabi sounded as if she were interrogating an enemy. Not good. Time to remedy the situation.

"Soldier pills from Sakura-san. Look." he took another bite. The two stared at him in disbelief. "It's great."

**_'Nice poker face.'_**

_'Thank you. It's pretty easy to do when your parents force you to eat food other than ramen.'_

Yeah, he loved ramen, so what? Narumi and the rest of his family did too. Genetics, if you will.

"Right." Hanabi looked convinced at the prospect of him having an odd taste bud. Thank Narumi for her weird quirks and habits. "Anyway, I saw a group of movers a kilometre up. Should be our request."

"Good." the onyx-eyed female pushed her hair back and looked at Naruto seriously. "Let's go."

His other teammate then proceeded to unnecessarily add, "Don't mess this up."

* * *

Few more minutes of tree jumping, and they finally reached the two cargoes. Appearing in front of them as if they teleported (courtesy of the the Body Flicker Technique), the traffickers were immediately on-guard. The two from the back in particular rushed forward to confront the team.

"Who're you?" the man was tall and tanned, with a short crop of dark hair and black eyes. Hanabi squinted at him, somewhat put-off by his attitude, but the one to answer his concerns was the silent one of their group.

"We're Konoha ninja. You are the merchants from the Land of Vegetables, correct?"

The other one, having silver hair that was covered by an ascot cap, answered carefully, "That's right."

"We were told to protect you. From bandits, I presume."

The uncertainty of that statement made the two exchange glances. The boy at the very back slowly walked towards them too. Satsuki ignored their apprehensive actions, and got out the large brown package Anko had given them. "Here. This is for identification."

The tall one was about to grab it from her hands, but a small and petite pair of hands beat him to the chase. The team blinked, and saw as a little girl with a ribbon tie steal away the package and jumped ontop of the cargo load. She began unpacking the box, and a grin enveloped her face.

"Oi, Momiji!" the old lady berated, lightly stomping. Clearly, the named girl was her granddaughter.

The older girl that had been helping her grandmother added, "You shouldn't steal things. Return it please."

"Yup, Susuki. These guys are from Konoha, see?"

She turned and presented an extra-large gray sweater to the crew. "See!?"

Satsuki gave a notable "tch!" while Hanabi sighed. The blond simply sweat-dropped.

_'Konoha Moving Services...?'_

That was what the sweater was labelled with. He looked behind the little girl and saw three sweaters of the same kind.

_**'I see. So Anko lied to you and actually assigned a D-rank mission.'**_

_'Apparently.'_ Naruto shrugged, _'She either wanted us to get there faster by saying it was a C-rank, or...it was just a prank.'_

_**'My nonexistent gut tells me it's the latter.'**_

"I see. My name is Kikusuke." the tall man smiled, and then nudged to his partner, "This is Yurinoshin. And this is our cousin, Shun."

Naruto finally noticed the boy behind them. He seemed oddly serious, and only nodded at them. The whiskered teen's attention was dragged away by the introduction of the young girl on the cargo. "My name is Momiji! We'll be counting on you movers!"

Sensing they were still processing the information, Naruto began the introductions. "R-right. I'm Naruto, this is Hanabi-san and Satsuki-san." he nudged at each of the girls. With a small bow of the head, he added, "Pleasure to work with you."

* * *

Once the girls begrudgingly put on the oversized sweater (Naruto guessed they were meant for the Akimichi, which made sense because a lot of the labour force was filled with them), they began their "true mission". Naruto was helping push the cargo at the front, the one with the little girl sitting. Fortunately, once he laced his arms with chakra, it was no biggie. In fact, he had the two labourers originally pushing it to move aside and talk with the their grandmother and sister.

_'Must be nice to have a family business like this.' _Naruto thought, observing as the two men helped their grandmother. Their sister, Susuki, laughed as the elder refused their help.

_**'I suppose so.'**_

Naruto took one of his hands off the cargo and twisted his head back. Hanabi was helping push the barrels with one hand, while Satsuki was pulling it with both. He could tell they disliked the way their teacher fooled them. Nothing they could do about it though.

"Hey!" Naruto lifted his head to see Momiji, a cheeky grin on her face. "I like strong people. Think you can go faster?"

"I mean..." Naruto tilted his head, "...if I try too hard, then your brother might get hurt."

He was referring to the man at the front that was controlling the load. He didn't know whether they were siblings, but it was apparently corrected, as a wild smile appeared on her face.

"Wow, you're super considerate. I like you!"

Naruto gave a bashful nod, "Thanks."

"You have any food?" she asked, her smile widening. The way she looked at him...it reminded him of his younger sister back at home; childish yet cheeky.

"Please don't mind her, Naruto-san." an unfamiliar female voice cut in. Naruto turned his head to see Susuki, her elder sister, with an awkward look on her face. "She does this sometimes."

Naruto laughed softly, "It's fine. I have a younger sister too."

"Oh, I see." she hummed, "We should get the two introduced then."

"Ah, you'll be staying in Konoha then?" Naruto inquired gently. She nodded.

"Yes. We'd like to start a new life there. The Yondaime Hokage is very open to that sort of thing."

'_Otou-sama...'_

**_'A great Hokage indeed.' _**Aibou openly approved.

Naruto unconsciously let a toothy grin, not unlike what Narumi would give. "That's great. Hokage-sama is nice that way."

"Yeah. We can't wait to start a new life there." Susuki's eyes averted from him, before glancing back, "By the way, if you don't mind me asking...what's with those marks on your cheeks?"

"Eh?" he raised a finger, though not deterring from the task at hand, and touched his cheek. People were _always _curious about them, and he would answer honestly every time, "The whiskers? Ah, they're birth marks, or so I've been told."

Narumi also had said whiskers, though oddly enough, Mito didn't. Naruto heard from his parents that their whiskers were caused by his mother holding the Kyuubi inside her, and when she gave birth to their youngest daughter, the lack of the Tailed Beast removed any sign of it.

That wasn't true, however.

Unknown to most of the village, his mother, Kushina, actually had _half_ of the Kyuubi; the Yin half. Narumi exclusively held the Yang half. As a member of the family, his father thought it wise to tell him on his 13th birthday about this. Apparently, the only people that knew were the clan heads, Jiraiya, and a select few Jounin (an obvious one being Kakashi).

At the time, Naruto didn't understand the reasoning behind the secrecy. Aibou explained it as a political ploy to convince their enemies Konoha was not in its prime, when it had in fact not gotten weaker in the slightest.

Susuki opened her mouth and dipped her head down in understanding. It sounded as if she wanted to converse with him solely because of his markings. Not that he blamed her, they were definitely a weird feature to have on someone's face.

* * *

_'That's a girl.' _

Hanabi and Satsuki thought simultaneously, glancing at the 'boy' known as Shun. The two had not spoken about it, but had instead gave out silent signals. Hanabi brought it up when she noticed the total lack of an adam's apple on Shun's neck. Not that women couldn't have one, the main issue was the complete lack of it. Furthermore, when Shun had spoken, they could immediately tell it was an act; a ploy to play as a male.

Although there were many obvious signs of it, they did have to give Shun some credit, as she definitely looked the part; brown hair with bangs hanging not unlike the Yondaime Hokage, and a chest beyond flat. Satsuki assumed she wore a Sarashi (chest binder) for that.

Either that, or she simply wasn't well-endowed.

However, unknown to the Uchiha, Hanabi had already used slight amounts of their Doujutsu to confirm their assumption. Shun was, in fact, a female, likely around their age.

The fact that she went through so many measures to hide her identity rose up some suspicion. Particularly the question of why?

'_Why would this Shun hide her gender?' _

Hanabi nor Satsuki didn't allow themselves to get caught, as they kept looking straight ahead while pushing the cart. Shun was walking a foot to their right, and it looked as though she was comfortable with them. Another indicator of Shun true gender, assuming that that was even her real name.

Yurinoshin had noticed their cautious behaviour, having gazed at them from a distance. '_Those two are quite observant. __As long as they don't figure out her identity though, we should be fine. Still...we can never be too careful.'_

He casually readjusted his cap, a motion his partner caught. "We'll stop for a break in a few minutes." Kikusuke suddenly called out. "The pathway is gonna split if we keep going, and it's the only good place to rest until we reach Konoha."

* * *

It turned out the man truly knew his geography, as their straightforward path merged into a deep cleft between two small cliffs. It was like a mini-canyon, except without any rivers.

Naruto let out a tired breath as he sat against the side cliffs. A fe

"Thank you." Naruto nodded as Momiji handed him a jar of water. The girl grinned as he took a sip, her hands behind her,"It's great."

"Yeah! My grandmother taught me how to find it."

"Oh?" Naruto raised a playful brow, "That's incredible. You must be really good at it."

She pumped her chest out with pride. "Yep, yep. I'm great at it. Ya see, you get these metal thingies," she got a pair of L-shaped metal rods, something she had been hiding behind her, "and they point to the item you wanna look for!"

"It's a technique passed down from our predecessors." the grandmother said as she trotted towards them. Naruto looked up at the kind woman, who said, "It's called dowsing."

_'Better teach that to Narumi.'_ He thought with a snicker. She constantly lost things.

"Here." Naruto passed his water to the tallest of the group, Kikusuke, who drank it with a great swing. He frowned once it left his lips.

"It doesn't compare to the water in the Land of Vegetables." Naruto shot him an awkward look, as the younger girl looked down. Kikusuke flailed his hands around, "I-it's still really good! A close second!"

Momiji didn't seem convinced. The blond face-palmed at his blatant contradiction. Kikusuke turned his face away, as if not wanting to be silently judged by them. Blinking, a topic popped into the whiskered teen's head.

"Come to think of it, what kind of place _is_ the Land of Vegetables?"

Kikusuke jumped at the conversation, "It's a small land deep in the mountains. Everybody was kind and respected the nature there. It was a paradise."

Hanabi, with her hands folded and brow raised, coldly asked, "But if it's such a great place, why do you need protection?"

The crew exchanged confused glances. Naruto had a bead of sweat drip down his temple. It sounded like Hanabi was still hung up on the fact that this turned from a C-rank body guard mission to a D-rank labour one. At the same though, Hanabi wasn't stupid. More than anything, she was obedient and compliant...

"It's targeted because the people take peace for granted."

It was a voice that Naruto hadn't heard before, and it was emitted from the sickly boy known as Shun. From his brief comment, all attention was him now, making him stand out. Naruto could swear Hanabi smirked in triumph.

"What do you mean?"

"Stuff like loving nature and being warm-hearted is nice and all, but the bottom-line is that the people in the Land of Vegetables are all softhearted. It's why things are the way they are now. Something like believing in people is ridiculous." Shun scoffed. Naruto looked at Kikusuki and Yurinoshin for guidance, but they didn't meet his gaze."

"Hey, the Land of Vegetables is not something to speak ill of like that." the grandmother spoke up in protest. Naruto hoped this wouldn't turn into a full-on argument, as the old lady kept raising her voice, "The Daimyo was even kind enough to let us merchants pass through!"

Shun shook his head and shrugged off his opposition, taking a large sip of his drink in further defiance. The old lady was likely going to shout, though fortunately, Susuki had intervened.

"Grandma, how about we keep the debate for later? Children are listening."

"To think he'd take up that kind of attitude with an elder..." Hanabi shook her head and looked to Kikusuke, "he's your cousin, right? Do something about him."

"R-right." Kikusuke stammered.

"He's probably a bit touchy." Yurinoshin explained, giving Shun a glance and making sure he wasn't treading through anything too extreme. The teen simply humphed, and the older relative sighed, "Bad things from the past, you know?"

* * *

_**Japanese Terms**_

_**Buki wa Kuchiyose = Weapon Summoning**_

_**Fuinjutsu = Sealing Jutsu**_

**_Kyuubi = Nine Tailed Fox_**

**_Konoha = village hidden in the leaves_**

**_Yondaime = Fourth_**

_**chan = **_**_used to refer to children and female family members, close friends_**

_**kun = **_**_used to address men who are younger or the same age as the speaker._**

_**Onee-sama = **_**_refers to a highly respected older sister or female_**

_**Onii-sama = refers to a highly respected older brother or male**_

**_Okaa-chan = Casual. Close to "mommy."_**

_**Tou-chan = Children and lower class family use it. Close to "daddy."**_

**_Otou-san = refers to dad._**

**_Otou-sama = Very formal for father._**

* * *

**A/N:**

**Heyo, heyo. Another month, another chapter. Sorry if it didn't meet your expectations; it was obviously more of a build-up chapter rather than an action-packed one. Lots of foreshadowing for the arc tho**

**As you can see, I avoided the Wave Mission since that's overdone. Hopefully this filler-based mission is to your liking instead. For those who already know the story to it, good on you. If you don't, then please enjoy. ****Next chapter is already being worked on as well.**

**Moreover, I realize that a month of writing is a lot of time. I may decide to post either a Fate or RWBY story. The former would be multi-chaptered, not long-running like this but at least 5 or so chapters. The latter would be a one-shot and more of a testing fic to flex my writing on a genre which I have no real experience with.**


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